Ayala, PNP officials face off in Senate probe of Glorietta blast

MANILA, Philippines – Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) officials and the Philippine National Police (PNP) faced each other for the first time yesterday at the Senate hearing on the Glorietta 2 blast in Makati City that left 11 people dead and 103 others injured last Oct. 19.

Both camps stood behind their respective versions during the first hearing of the Senate committees on public order and security, and national defense and security.

ALI president and chief executive officer Jaime Ayala maintained throughout the six-hour inquiry that the incident could be bomb-related, contrary to police claims.

Ayala revealed that the two foreign experts they hired disputed police claims that the blast was an industrial accident caused by an accumulation of methane gas which eventually exploded.

In explaining their side, Ayala said there were 1,100 other functioning sump pits around the Makati area, none of which suffered the same accident as Glorietta 2.

Ayala assured the senators and the public that the company is primarily concerned with the safety of its consumers at all times.

“With respect to maintenance, we have a continuous assessment of our maintenance procedures. It is something we do as a matter of course,” Ayala said after the hearing.

“With respect to security, we have very strong security procedures in place that are constantly updated. We have deployed additional dogs which are sniffing bombs and chemicals. We have added CCTV cameras. We have beefed up our security deployment, and looking constantly at certain areas in our patrol,” Ayala said.

Near the end of the six-hour hearing, tempers flared between Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and ALI officials over the issue of jurisdiction of the basement of the Glorietta 2 complex.

Enrile said he was trying to pinpoint corporate responsibility for the incident.

Ayala pointed out that the Makati Supermarket Corp., represented by its senior vice president Federico Ples, were the owners of the building, but Ples in turn tossed the blame to Marchem Industrial Sales and Services Inc. (Marchem).

Marchem was supposedly entrusted by Ayala Property Management Corp. (APMC) to conduct maintenance operations in the Glorietta 2 basement.

However, after Enrile’s probing questions, it was revealed that Marchem had no formal contract with either ALI or Makati Supermarket.

“Why don’t you enter a written contract with Marchem and Makati Supermarket? Now you are passing the ball to each other,” Enrile said.

Ples said Marchem has been overseeing maintenance operations in the blast area for the past eight years.

However, Marchem president Benigno Marquez said they have not entered into any formal agreement except for a proposal, a response that further irritated Enrile.

Although ALI seemed not to have direct supervision over the basement, Ayala said ALI took responsibility outright over the incident “because at the end of the day, we are the larger group with the internal resources. We believe that we are not negligent in the situation.”

Ayala also belied insinuations by Enrile that ALI’s hiring of private bomb experts was part of a cover-up.

Early in the day, Ayala cited their own findings that at least six samplings gathered from the area showed presence of RDX, a major component found in bombs.

Asked if the Ayala’s finding may be related to its insurance claims, Ayala said, “Our insurance coverage is very comprehensive so we have full coverage.”

Ayala even related that they received report that a staff member of the CD-R King outlet received a bomb threat two days before the incident. A female caller warned of a bomb that will explode at around 1:30 p.m. but she mentioned the date as Oct. 29.

“It happened at around the time and area mentioned by the caller, except for the date,” Ayala recalled.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, co-chairman of the Senate panel, moved that the Senate should allow detained fellow Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to attend the hearings. Trillanes sought the conduct of the inquiry after he received reports that National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales may have had a hand in the explosion.

Gonzales did not show up at the hearing, citing more pressing national security concerns.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan said the entire Senate will have to act on Biazon’s motion to allow Trillanes to attend because the issue is now with the Supreme Court.

Chief Superintendent Luizo Ticman, Southern Police District chief and head of the Multi-Agency Investigation Task Force on the Glorietta 2 explosion, ruled out bombing as cause of the blast.