Ayala firms face P30M suit for 'negligence'

MANILA, Philippines - Three Ayala-owned companies were sued for at least P30.2 million over the May 2013 blast that ripped through units of Two Serendra, an upscale residential project in Taguig City.

Unit owner Marianne Cayton on Monday filed a 24-page complaint before the Pasig Regional Trial Court against Alveo Land Corp., Bonifacio Gas Corp., and Makati Development Corp.

The gas leak-caused blast killed four people including Angelito San Juan, occupying Cayton's unit at the time of the blast, who suffered from injuries and died in the hospital two months after the incident.

Cayton requested the court to order a replacement of her two-bedroom unit worth over P20 million.

The complainant also asked for P5 million in moral damages, P5 million in exemplary damages, and P200,000 in attorney’s fees.

Lawyer Raymond Fortun, Cayton's counsel, said in a statement last December that the three firms have rejected damage claims arising from their "serious violations of proper safety measures in the building and maintenance of a high-end housing development project."

"The public is notified that both Ms. Cayton and Mr. San Juan's relatives will be suing Ayala for their misdeeds very shortly," Fortun said.

Accusing developers of "negligence," Cayton had said the companies failed to issue safety precautions to unit owners and residents. The safety measure, she said, would have prevented the explosion.

"Kroll reported that the escaped LPG vapor remained undetected for approximately 13 hours of normal building occupancy," Cayton, through Fortun, wrote.

The developers did not have a system in place to determine chemical levels of the tanks, Cayton claimed.

The unit also also slapped Serendra for the lack of supervision of renovation activities of the unit owners and for the sowing confusion between residents' and developers' understanding of house rules and guidelines.

"There is no and never will be a selling out to the rich and powerful; people who do bad things have to be exposed and made to pay for actions that put helpless consumers in harm's way," he said.

Last October, Hong Kong-based Kroll Advisory Solutions released a report following an investigation on the blast and cited negligence on the part of the owner and tenant of the unit where the explosion originated.