Manila:  The Malacañang Palace said it is supporting a move by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to reinvestigate an October 2007 Makati mall blast that killed 11 people, but had been thought to be accidental.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte, in an interview aired by local radio, said De Lima's decision to re-investigate the Glorietta 2 mall tragedy was a "welcome development," that would clear up doubts into the incident's initial inquiry.

"Of course, we welcome the move by the Justice Department, I think it's better for everybody. At least, it will put the incident to rest and we'll inform everybody on what really happened," Valte said.

The October 19, 2007 a powerful blast ripped the basement of Glorietta 2, blowing off the top dome of the four-storey establishment and causing panic among shoppers and employees.  The explosion claimed the lives of 11 people and injured more than 100 others. 

Accident

The findings of a team of investigators made up of police, the military and the owner of the mall pointed to an accident, particularly the accumulation of explosive gases at the mall's basement, as the cause of the powerful explosion.   

However three years after the unfortunate event, a member of the investigations team came out with a revelation that the blast had not been "accidental" as the team had concluded, but a premeditated act of sabotage.

The argument that the blast was not accidental was voiced by the now-retired Army Col. Allan Sollano, a member of the Army Explosives and Ordnance Division that conducted an assessment of the scene of the damage in 2007. He said even then they had strong suspicions that the cause of the blast was manmade and not the result of circumstances such as the accumulation of explosive gases.

Sollano had said that probers had found minute traces of chemical similar to those used in plastic explosives such as RDX and Composition 4.  C-4 is used exclusively by the military.

The former army officer said that his findings were kept from the public.  Earlier, there had been reports from sources in the armed forces that several blocks of C-4 issued to the military were missing following the 2003 mutiny led by now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.  Trillanes was a former navy senior grade lieutenant.

White wash

Amid doubts over the conclusion that the blast was an accident, De Lima issued an order to reopen the investigation into the incident and designated Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong and State Prosecutor Gino Paolo Santiago to carry out a new inquiry.

De Lima has been given Ong and Santiago 45 days to submit their report and recommendation on the matter.