Second probe confirms gas caused mall blast

Manila: A justice department re-investigation in the 2007 mall blast in Makati City that killed 11 people has affirmed earlier findings that the explosion was caused by accumulated explosive gas.

A fresh probe conducted by a fact finding panel ordered by Leila de Lima, Department of Justice Secretary (DOJ), last October 2010 said there was not enough evidence to give credence to a claim by retired Army Colonel Allan Sollano that a bomb had caused the powerful explosion at the Glorietta 2 mall on the afternoon of October 19, 2007.

Sollano, an explosives and ordnance expert, was part of the team that conducted investigations on the blast site along with police authorities.

The probe concluded then that the explosion at the mall had been caused by methane gas that had accumulated within a confined area at the mall's basement. But late last year, Sollano came public with statements saying there had been a cover up on the actual cause of the blast and that the then government of president Gloria Arroyo was involved in the plot.

Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong and Assistant State Prosecutor Gino Paulo Santiago said there is no cause to justify a decision to change the conclusion that the blast was caused by gas and not by a bomb.

"The claim of Col. Sollano… is not worthy of credence," the fact finding panel said in its report to De Lima. The panel said the impact of Sollano's supposed revelations on the mall blast puts in question his motives in coming out with the expose. The retired army official had reportedly gone into hiding since the start of the month.

"The evidence and circumstances disproving the claims of Col. Sollano brings to light questions over his intention in coming forward and making assertions that the explosion was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device/bomb," the report said. Aside from the 11 people killed by the blast at the Glorietta 2, more than a hundred people were injured in the explosion.

The Glorietta complex in Makati City's central business district is one of the most popular malls in the country. Aside from the 2007 blast, the establishment had also been the site of the failed July 27, 2003 military mutiny.

Cause of the explosion

Investigators had traced the cause of the powerful explosion that blew off a several tonnes concrete dome at the centre of the mall to the accumulation of methane gas at the basement. As a result of the October 19, 2007 disaster, several private individuals had been charged including engineers and technicians involved in the functioning of the mall's waste disposal system.