Glorietta blast an accident, PNP insists

MANILA, Philippines - Police and fire officials reiterated yesterday that the explosion at the Glorietta 2 shopping mall in Makati City two years ago was an accident and not caused by a terrorist bomb as claimed by a self-proclaimed bomb expert who failed to follow proper procedures in gathering evidence.

Some 11 people were killed and 108 others were injured after a huge blast rocked the basement of the mall.

Director Luizo Ticman, former director of the Southern Police District who headed the investigation of the blast that occurred on Oct. 19, 2007, said their findings that the explosion was caused by methane gas were supported by concrete evidence and analysis of experts from different government agencies, which composed the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

“We have posted our findings on the website of the PNP for everyone to scrutinize. The case has been submitted to the proper forum – the Department of Justice,” Ticman, who is now the chief of the PNP-Directorate for Logistics, told The STAR.

Ticman questioned the motive of retired Maj. Allan Sollano, a former member of the Army’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Team, who claimed that a bomb caused the explosion.

Former PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. said that the Glorietta 2 blast was caused by methane gas.

Razon said the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), foreign and local explosives experts have concluded after a comprehensive investigation and study of the site that methane gas and not a bomb was the cause of the blast at Glorietta 2.

“That (Sollano’s claim) could not affect our findings. That is his opinion. But based on our investigation, the cause of the blast in Glorietta 2 was methane gas, not bomb. Whoever will say that it is caused by bomb, or firecrackers, must prove it,” Razon said.

Razon said the pieces of evidence gathered by the PNP, the NBI and by foreign and local explosives experts showed that methane gas caused the blast.

Sollano was a member of the Army EOD Team that also investigated the blast, but police doubted his claim of being an expert.

In a two-page report dated Jan. 15, 2008 signed by Ticman, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, police questioned Sollano’s procedure in collecting evidence from the blast site.

The report noted that according to Sollano, he was the one who recovered a partially burnt plastic bag at the basement of Makati Supermarket near Glorietta 2. However, in another statement, Sollano claimed a team of investigators recovered the plastic bag at the back of a Honda Civic parked at the delivery bay of the Luk Yuen restaurant at Glorietta 2. – With Non Alquitran, Jose Rodel Clapano