Findings on condo blast probe out Friday

MANILA, Philippines - Investigators are expected to come out on Friday with findings on the deadly blast last week at Two Serendra in Taguig City, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday.

“No updates today. As per agreement, today is for all the various investigators to work on the interviews and finish the laboratory work. Maybe tomorrow there will be update and finals by Friday,” Roxas said yesterday in a text message relayed to The STAR by his staff.

The blast killed three employees of Abenson Appliances after a large concrete slab torn from Unit 501-B landed on their van as it was passing in front of the condo.

One of the five injured in the explosion was Unit 501-B tenant 63-year-old Angelito San Juan.

Also injured were an American tenant of another unit as well as three passersby.

Roxas earlier said San Juan was a “person of interest” and not a suspect.

San Juan’s US-based friend and owner of Unit 501-B Marianne Cayton decried Roxas’ “person of interest” label, saying San Juan was a victim and should not be looked upon with suspicion.

At the Bureau of Immigration (BI), spokesperson Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said that on Roxas’ request, they checked San Juan’s records and found four or five people with the same name.

“He has several namesakes. We have submitted this information to SILG Roxas for their reference,” Mangrobang said.

She clarified that the BI was not in a position to screen the names to determine which among them was the tenant of Two Serendra.

“This is not really an immigration matter, particularly since all of them are Filipinos. We have no jurisdiction. The request that we received is for information so that is what we provided,” she added.

San Juan is still confined at the intensive care unit of St. Luke’s Medical Center at the Bonifacio Global City for second-degree burns on 85 percent of his body.

Roxas earlier said the bomb angle may have weakened after investigators found no triggering devices or explosive residue at the site.

He said investigators had combed through a field of debris across the McKinley Parkway road in front of Two Serendra and the open parking lot of Market! Market! and found nothing that would suggest a bomb had caused the blast.

Roxas also said a team from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) unit as well as experts from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) had also begun doing analyses on some debris.

“SOCO and BFP are examining burn patterns and shattering. They’re trying to calculate the amount of force needed to throw debris. No triggering device was found but we’re not ruling out anything,” he said.

Check continues

Serendra residents, meanwhile, are still not allowed to go back to their units as engineers are still checking the building’s structural integrity as well as the safeness of its gas pipelines.

Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), in a statement, said the restriction was imposed to ensure the safety of residents.

“As safety is a primary concern, residents of the affected Serendra buildings continue to be provided with temporary lodging,” said Jorge Miguel Marco, head of ALI’s corporate communications department.

“They will be allowed to return to their homes once the proper authorities have given clearance,” he said.

“Since the incident last Friday, Ayala Land continues to look into the condition and welfare of those who were affected,” Marco said. Two Serendra has 78 unit owners.

ALI also said it is coordinating with appliance seller Abenson “to provide the necessary assistance to their respective families, including shouldering the funeral and burial expenses.”

The three fatalities from Abenson were Jeffrey Umali, Marlon Bandiola and Zallymar Natividad.

The Department of Public Works and Highways also said its team of structural engineers sent to check on Serendra was finally allowed to enter the building last Monday.

“What we are looking into is the structural condition of the building. By structural condition, it means if the columns or beams were damaged. But (checking) the pipes, it’s not ours. We have no expertise on that. It is not the focus of our assessment,” DPWH Bureau of Design chief Gilbert Reyes said yesterday.

“They have not yet finished their assessment. I do not yet know the status,” he said when asked about the progress of the inspection.

“If they do not see any effect then maybe we could say that it is safe since it was previously being occupied by tenants,” Reyes said.

Roxas also said that even after the building is declared safe, it would still be treated as a crime scene.

According to Roxas, San Juan had complained to the building administrator about the “hot and suffocating” condition inside Unit 501-B. With Neil Jerome Morales, Evelyn Macairan