Sleepless in Glorietta

Inquirer.net’s Thea Alberto  has the scoop: A copy of the Australian Federal Police report she was able to get her hands on confirms what PNP Chief Avelino Razon has said since last week: It was a gas build-up that led to the explosion in Glorietta 2, not a terrorist’s bomb.

Australian forensic experts have concluded that the blast which killed 11 and injured over a hundred in a mall in Makati City last month was caused by a gas explosion and not by an improvised explosive device.

In its 13-page report, a copy of which was obtained by INQUIRER.net, the Australian Forensic Police (AFP) however did not say what had led to the blast although it noted that there were several “potential sources” which included the “sewer gas/fumes which can consist of sulphur dioxide, methane, ammonia; diesel fumes.” Australian experts also said that there were no traces of bomb parts.

It is a conclusion I have a hard time believing, in part because of the previous theories floated by Razon himself and by other responsible officials (summed up in this Inquirer editorial), and in part because my own sources tell me the story isn’t over yet.

The editorial (published the day after Razon and a galaxy of star-bearing police officers visited the Inquirer and the Star) listed the different theories and the assertions of fact already on record, and concluded:

We recognize, of course, that theories change as more facts emerge. We understand that, aside from that stray remark about RDX traces being found, not much else points to a bomb. But we also realize that in some high-profile terrorist acts, it took government investigators some time to prove that bombs were in fact used.

We acknowledge the investigators’ readiness to continue considering the bombing angle — they were, after all, the first to consider it. We recognize their testing of new theories as consistent with the emergence of new facts. We believe, however, that their main duty, at this time, is to ascertain all the necessary facts. Unless these are established, any theory offered to the public is a rush to judgment.

The Australian forensic report goes a long way to establishing the gas leak theory, but Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay remains skeptical. Before a copy of the report was obtained, but after Razon had raised the gas build-up theory again, Binay called for greater transparency in the ongoing probe and a new, independent investigation altogether.

Earlier, the mayor had called for an independent and impartial probe, citing the PNP’s “inconsistent and at times illogical statements.”

(Of course, Binay’s point is not without self-interest; the gas theory would make City Hall and its opposition leadership liable for negligence.) 

Even today’s Youngblood, a deeply moving tribute to one of the tragically slain, raises the possibility that the investigation was “polluted by politics.”

I have my doubts too.

In the first place, the record is clear: A few hours after the explosion, the PNP Chief himself aired the possibility that the blast was caused by a bomb.

Secondly, the visits by the PNP top brass to the various newsrooms were highly unusual. It could be that this is merely the way the new Chief does business, but as one can readily see from a comparison of the same-but-different front pages of the Inquirer and the Star the day after the visit, this kind of unusual attention stokes a journalist’s hard-earned skepticism.

Thirdly, the police generals were quick to adopt an aw-shucks attitude when questioned about the technical details of the (new) theory they were proposing. If this were a murder, I can answer your question directly, Razon told me, in so many words, during the meeting with Inquirer editors and reporters. The chief of the investigating task force, Chief Supt. Luizo Ticman, also admitted that the details were a little too arcane for him, but said he and the top brass were relying on the work of their expert investigators. We asked him for a listing, and he said: Sure, but I will have to ask them for permission first.

(A note: The quotes are without quotation marks because I am paraphrasing, as best I can, from memory.)

Later, maybe 20 minutes later, an aide handed Ticman a single sheet of yellow or legal paper, with what looked like 20 or so names written on it. This, he said, waving it in the Inquirer’s multi-purpose room on the second floor, is a list of all those experts working with us. I caught a look at some of the lines; they contained police titles: PO3, PO4, and the like. I remember thinking: Would a one-star general need the permission of the PNP’s own experts (he mentioned, other others, a “metallurgy forensic expert”) to disclose their participation in a high-profile investigation?

Fourthly, my own sources tell me about other findings, other “facts” unaccounted for in the new theory. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to corroborate what they say.

All this makes today’s Youngblood essay, by Patricia Palea Orjalo, that much harder to read. Patricia writes:

I was in denial for a long time. From the moment I got the first text message, to the anxious hours of searching for him at the Makati Medical Center and Ospital ng Makati, up until the night I looked at him inside the coffin, I could not accept the painful reality that my good friend had departed. But then again, who would have thought that a person so full of life and who gave so much would go ahead of us?

All of Onin’s friends and loved ones were distraught. A dark cloud hovered over the Vidamo residence on the first night of the wake. Mass was said with everyone present in tears. It started with discreet sniffs and burst out in loud wails of anger, grief and despair. The priest did not bother to stop the ceremony to comfort the family members. He let them be.

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