Manila: A victim of a May 31 blast at a condominium in Taguig City died on Thursday, bringing to four the total number of fatalities in a tragedy that could have an impact on the country’s building safety regime.
Angelito San Juan, a 63-year-old information technology professional based in Torrence, California, died from complications from burn injuries he suffered from the explosion at unit 501B of the Two Serendra condominium at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, reports said.
Lawyer Raymund Fortun, said San Juan died while at the Intensive Care Unit of the Saint Lukes’ Medical Centre in Taguig City, where the Filipino-American IT professional had been confined since the May 31 blast.
Fortun was quoted in reports as saying that the cause of San Juan’s death had been multiple organ failure.
Another Filipino-American in California owns the condominium unit and San Juan was just staying there so that he could attend a June 1 wedding.
A senior data architect employed at the American Honda Co in Torrence, San Juan had been offered to use the unit during the duration of his stay in the Philippines.
Authorities led by Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas initially assumed that the explosion had been an act of terrorism, but several days after it was determined that the blast had been caused by cooking gas that had leaked from the condominium unit’s liquefied petroleum gas distribution network.
The blast caused by the accumulated gas that leaked from the faulty device was powerful enough to blow away portions of the condominium unit that was constructed from concrete prefabricated materials.
A concrete portion of the condominium unit landed on a passing home appliance delivery truck, killing the driver, Salimar Natividad, 41 and two of his assistants, Jeffrey Umali, 33, and Marlon Baldiola, 29.
The death of San Juan came a day after Serendra Inc, the operator of the condominium, decided to permanently close its piped-in cooking gas network because of the explosion.
“Mindful that its position may be unpopular and inconvenient for the Serendra community, the developer nonetheless considers the safety of the community as the paramount consideration for its recommendation,” Serendra Inc said.
In the Philippines, cooking gas is typically bottled in high pressure metal containers. However, in the case of Serendra, gas is piped in to individual condominium units through a distribution network.
Prior to the explosion at Unit 501B, there had been reports of underground gas pipeline explosions.
The DILG said investigations on the gas explosion continue as there are still some questions that remain unanswered such was what was the source of spark that triggered the gas explosion.
