Serendra mysteries: Not a bomb, 3 dead withdrawn

From the Daily Tribune (Jun 2): Serendra mysteries: Not a bomb, 3 dead withdrawn

The government remained clueless a day after three people were killed in a mysterious explosion in a luxury apartment building in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig as Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said authorities were still trying to assess what had triggered the blast since initial investigations found no trace of a bomb.

Adding to the mystery was the government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) statement earlier saying three other men had been found dead in the room where the blast occurred but later withdrew the statement saying it was inaccurate.

Social media feeds shortly after the incident also showed medical rescue team pulling out bodies from the luxury condominium where the blast occurred. The three confirmed dead were from a crushed delivery van after the explosion late Friday knocked out the wall of the Two Serendra condominium unit owned by the Ayala Group.

An equal mystery was President Aquino rushing to the site of the explosion when the police had yet to clear the area of possible dangers.

Presidential deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said the visit of Aquino to the explosion scene on Friday night was to ensure that investigation must be carried
out in a proper manner that could not be tampered by any contrary evidence, which are standard procedures with the police in any crime scene.

“Well, of course, the President and Secretary Roxas were both very aware that  their movements were to be limited, the Presidfent and Secretary Roxas were aware on what to do, precisely, the President also went there to make sure that things were to be carried out exactly in a scientific manner that there would be a process of elimination, etcetera,” Valte said.

“We still have not seen any triggering device of any kind among the debris,” Roxas told reporters hours after the explosion in a fifth floor unit in the high-end condominium, while bomb-sniffing dogs had found no sign of explosives.

“We are not ruling out anything,” he told reporters just before touring the shattered apartment.

Hours later, debris from the building still littered the area, with some pieces of rubble hurled dozens of metres (yards) by the force of the blast.

The once-bustling area around the condominium remained cordoned off as police and fire investigators searched the building.

Roxas said they would treat the area as a crime scene to preserve evidence until they had determined the cause of the blast.

Roxas said the explosion injured five people including a US national who was hit by flying glass and the occupant of the unit, who suffered burns.

The condominium, located in an upper-class residential development called “the Fort” had been evacuated while it underwent an inspection, he added.

The explosion took place just a few meters away from a popular area of restaurants, bars and shops that attracts thousands of people at the weekend.

Civilians have in the past been targeted in bomb attacks, often carried out by the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group started in the 1990s with seed money from the al-Qaeda network.

The 2004 Abu Sayyaf bombing of a ferry in Manila killed more than 100 people in the worst terrorist attack in the country’s history.

However the group is largely concentrated in the southern Philippines rather than Manila.

Roxas said the authorities has quickly implement paneling, a process of inspecting the area using the sniffing dogs provided by the Southern Police District (SPD), National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), and Philippine Army, but there is no registration of any bomb, but there is no registration of any bomb from the canine units.

However, they are not ruling out anything though the investigators has yet to found any triggering device in the debris thus the Soco and BFP are studying still the burn patterns, shattering and the like to determine the force of the blast.

The people in two adjacent buildings were evacuated and turned off utilities to be checked by DPWH and they will be allowed to go back once their safety is ascertained.
The explosion occurred at unit 501 of building B at Two Serendra, in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig around 8:05 p.m.

Five others were wounded in the incident including an American and a nine year old Filipina.

Roxas said the fatalities were all employees of Abenson and were identified as Salimar Natividad, 41, driver, of San Jose del Monte Bulacan; Jeffrey Umali, 33, of Nueva Ecija; and Marlon Baldiola, 29, of Carmona, Cavite both helper.

The injured identified as Angelito San Juan of Unit 501, where the blast apparently occurred, was brought to the ICU in St Luke’s Taguig. He’s in stable condition. He was supposedly on his way out of the unit when the blast occurred.

Other injured victims were brought to St. Lukes Hospital as Allen Poole, US Citizen, 67; and who lives on the 6th floor of the building; Louise Lorenzo, nine-years-old,  a passerby who was already discharged Friday night; Janette Bonjock, a minor who’s still at St Luke’s; and April Joy Garcia, 19, discharged Friday night.

Investigations also revealed that San Juan had complained that his unit was “hot” or there was a feeling of “suffocation” prior to the blast.

Police found a used fire extinguisher in Unit 506, as well as indications of burn marks in Unit 306 during the initial investigation.

The CCTV footages in the building is being reviewed by authorities to determine the sequence of events before the explosion.

While the investigation is ongoing the Mckinley parkway was closed to motorists but the other areas across Bonifacio Global City, business goes on as usual.

According to Ayala Land Inc president Antonino Aquino, the lease contract of San Juan shows that he is leasing the unit from May 31 to June 9.

Aquino said that the building has been evacuated and the residents are being taken care of and provided with lodging while the incident is being investigated.

He added that they will give a full cooperation to the authorities to determine the cause of the incident.

Meanwhile, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano expressed the readiness of the local government of Taguig to help the blast victims.

However, she urged the public to stay calm and help the authorities in their investigation and don’t fan any rumors that may cause panic among the residents of the city.

Aquino with Roxas, police and arson investigators, agents from the National Bureau of Investigation, forensics of the scene of the crime opertaives (Soco), the firemen from the Bureau of Fire Protection, engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways, and traffic enforcers from the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) were immediately in the vicinity of the Serendra Building B at Two Serendra in Bonifacio Global, Taguig, where the explosion happened.

Roxas said that the blast site — involving units on the fifth floor of Two Serendra in Taguig City — will be treated as a crime scene, primarily to preserve the area for further investigation and evidence-gathering.

Roxas immediately had urged the public not to speculate on the incident, pending result of the  investigations.

Valte said  on Friday the NBI, Soco, DPWH, Bureau of Fire Protection, AFP with their K-9 sniffing dogs were on the scene to aid in the investigation.

“So, the Presidfent has strict order to determine what really happened and the main source of the explosion, and the findings of the investigators, it must stand the scrutiny of anybody,” Valte said.

“The President also stressed there must be great cooperation between all the agencies who are there. As soon as possible, there must be a result and make sure the findings must be based on evidence gathered,” Valte added.

The Ayala Land Inc. in a press statement said: At around 8 p.m. on  Friday, May 31, an exlosion occurred at Unit 501 of  Building B at Two Serenedra, in Bonifacio Global City. Ten units on the floor were damaged. Four residents were injured and taken to the St. Luke’s Medical Center. Three persons on board a delivery van passing through McKinley Parkway were killed by debris that fell on the van.

“The building has been evacuated and the residents are being taken care of and provided with lodging while the incident is being investigated,” the statement read.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said there must be a clarity on what really happened in Serendra explosion, expressing concerns that tourism industry could be affected.

Valte said Aquino instructed all the agencies who responded on the scene,”you have to share the technology and your expertise with all the other members of the investigating team.”

Valte said that Public Works Singson sent structural engineers and sanitary engineers to provide necessary assistance on the “investigation because at this point, you’re really looking at an entire universe of what possibly could have caused the explosion.”

The Serendra explosion is the second occurrence after the Glorietta which the authorities also downplayed as a bombing incident.

Serendra has a built-in system of liquified gas which is being probed as a possible source of the explosion.

Roxas called the indications that the explosion was not from a bomb “significant” but he said investigators have not ruled out anything. “Is it a bomb, gas leak or chemical explosion, we cannot say for sure,” he said.

Roxas was the one who clarified that only three people died in the incident. Roxas corrected the earlier statement issued by the National Disaster Risk Reducton and Management Council (NDRRMC) that there were already six fatalities in the blast.

Two Serendra building was fully evacuated after the explosion. Some of the occupants were transferred to the adjacent condos while others went back to their respective homes as they will be advice when to go back to the place.

Meanwhile, the police announced yesterday that some parts of McKinley Parkway in Taguig City are closed to traffic since debris from the explosion has not yet been cleared and investigators are still sifting through the evidence to ascertain what happened, authorities said.

However, all shopping malls in the area will still be open for business, officials said.  
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