9th fatality found; damage placed at P100 M

The recovery of the remains of a 50-year-old man from the rubble of Glorietta 2 brought to nine the number of fatalities in Friday’s blast that wounded more than a hundred others and left more than P100 million in damage to property. The incident also raised a terror alert across the country.

Disaster personnel plucked out the lifeless Renier Tan from a pile of debris just after midnight yesterday.

“The sifting operation has been continuous. We are also checking if the structures near the blast site are stable and if it is safe for the public to go around the area,” Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, Makati police chief, said.

He added that they were still looking for two others – a male and a female – who were reported still missing by their families and relatives. The identities of the two were not immediately available.

The Philippine National Red Cross identified the eight other fatalities as Liza Enriquez, Janine Marcos, Jose Allan de Jesus, Lester Peregrina, Anthony Marius Arroyo, Cesar Niño Vindano, Maria Celeste Cruz Domingo and Gee-ann de Gracia.

The more than a hundred wounded were brought to the Makati Medical Center and the Ospital ng Makati.

Of the injured, three were in critical condition. They were identified as Bonnie Escoto, 30; Maricel Marcelo, 42; and, Robinson Orlando, 54.

“Our teams at ALI and some volunteers from other companies have been working round-the-clock with the Red Cross, government agencies and doctors at Makati Medical Center and Ospital ng Makati to do everything we can for the families,” Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Land Inc. chairman, told The STAR in a text message.

“We are very grateful for all the help and support,” he said. “We want to do everything we can to help all these innocent victims get through this terrible ordeal.”

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, in separate statements, denounced the bombing and offered prayers for the victims.

“The explosion diverts our concentration and adds up to our common national problems that are crying for satisfactory solution,” CBCP president and Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said.

Grieving widow

“He is without any serious illness and now he is gone because of that unfortunate incident,” Norlita, the 39-year-old widow of Tan said of his tragic death.

Norlita was a picture of a worried wife looking for her husband, with whom communication was abruptly cut after the explosion.

“I am looking for my husband. We were together when we went inside the mall but we later decided to separate and now, he is nowhere to be found. He is not answering his cell phone,” Norlita told reporters at the emergency room of the Makati Medical Center last Friday. She had just come from the Ospital ng Makati where she failed to find her husband.

Norlita frantically dialed her cell phone every now and then, apparently trying to get through to her husband.                            

She recalled that before the explosion, she and her husband were at the Glorietta-4 section of the mall. “I went straight to the optical shop to have my eyeglasses repaired. He said he would leave me for a while to have coffee and then the explosion happened and I started looking for him,” she said.

Although she failed to locate her husband, she didn’t expect that her worst fears would be realized. She decided to go home without her husband Friday night only to be awakened early in the morning and told of the recovery of his remains.

“I cannot believe that he is now gone. I don’t know when will I be able to accept what had happened to him,” Norlita said. Renier left four children, aged 16, 15, 13 and 11. The Tan family lives in Magallanes Village, Makati City.

Stepped-up security

ALI said security has been tightened at all malls and establishments it operates in Metro Manila.

“For Glorietta, we will be supplementing our regular complement of 120 security guards that protect and control both the interior and exterior of the mall, with additional security personnel and additional bomb-sniffing dogs,” Jim Ayala, president and chief executive officer of ALI, said at a press briefing at the Activity Center yesterday.

“This in addition to the metal detectors we installed last year at the mall entrances with heavy pedestrian traffic,” Ayala said.

“We will continue to review our procedures being implemented at the mall area to ensure the safety of the public even as we resume normal operations,” he added.

Ayala stressed that the safety and security of mall customers have always been a principal concern of the Ayala group.

“In fact, we have an independent team of structural engineers as well as our own people inspecting the site of the explosion. After undergoing extensive study of the premises, it was found out that the structures of Glorietta 1, 3 and 4 are stable and the experts already gave word that we will be able to resume normal mall operations for these areas starting today (Saturday),” he said.

ALI also sponsored a Mass at Glorietta-3 premises at around noon, attended by Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his son, Fernando.

Ayala added that they are in constant communication with authorities. “We are extending to them our full support and cooperation as they ascertain the cause and nature of the explosion,” he said.

“We are now conducting post-blast investigation in the scene. Pieces of evidence are being collected and that possible materials that are capable of exploding are being eliminated,” Chief Inspector Raynold Rocero of the Philippine Bomb Data Center said.

He said some of the materials taken from the blast scene like metal bits, wooden boxes, and cartons, were unusual and might need closer examination.

Rosero said the explosion originated from the basement of Glorietta-2. There were water tanks and sewer lines in the basement, and equipment for the supermarket were also kept there.

Fear of collapse

Rocero, at a press briefing, said investigators were facing difficulties extracting evidence from the basement because the area was flooded and there was a danger that the structure might collapse.

“We need to see the ground of the basement. The caving-in of the flooring (of a portion of Glorietta-2) indicates that the blast came from the basement,” he said. “We are afraid that the structure may collapse that is why we cannot penetrate the basement right now.”

He also ruled out that the blast originated from the stockroom of Luk Yuen restaurant as announced earlier by National Capital Regional Police Office chief, Chief Superintendent Geary Barias.

But ALI spokesman Alfonso Reyes rebuffed Rocero for raising concerns over the building’s structural integrity.

“It is a bit premature to condemn a structure. It is for the engineers to determine that,” Reyes said. He said the blast damage covered 3,000 to 3,500 square meters of Glorietta -2.

Chief Superintendent Luizo Ticman, Southern Police District chief, said they were only using one equipment to siphon off water from the basement.

“We need to siphon off this water so that our personnel would gain access to the area. There must be a blasted water pipe in the area,” Ticman said, adding that it might take six hours to completely drain the basement of water.

Senior Inspector Abraham Tecson, a scene of the crime operative, said they recovered one plastic bag of RDX, a substance that could be used in making C-4 bomb.

But he said they could not tell at the moment if it’s a C-4 that caused the blast. “It is merely a preliminary investigation,” he said.

Barias, meanwhile, said they might summon personnel of Luk Yuen restaurant and workers involved in a construction activity at the Glorietta-2 basement.

“Initial investigation showed that there was a construction or a repair going on in the area. We have to account for people who worked there. Initial investigation showed that three days before the blast, there was an activity. We are now accounting for the contractor of that place,” Barias said.

“We need to know and investigate if there was a storekeeper in the area. What were stored in that place or if there were workers underneath the basement and what was happening there at the time,” Barias said.

He declined to say what caused the explosion. “At the moment, we have not found anything yet,” he said.

Business as usual

Friday’s incident appeared to have hardly affected some regular mall visitors and foreign tourists.

“As far as I know, it has not been confirmed that there was a bomb. I lived here in Ayala. I thought it’s very sad. They said it was an LPG explosion. You cannot always live your life in constant fear,” Suzanne Perry, a 27-year-old micro-financing researcher told The STAR.

“We heard about it from the hotel. We have nothing to fear, anyway. We will still stroll around here. We are here to enjoy our vacation to see the Philippines’ beautiful views,” a 27-year-old German national, who declined to be named, said.           

Maimai Dubmon, 35, a staffer of one of the stalls selling cellular phone accessories, said sales were surprisingly normal.

“We are nervous, but ours is business as usual. We need to get income,” Dubmon said.

Tina Capio, a store manager of the nearby Goldilocks, reported fewer customers yesterday. “We are open from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Normally, we always have a filled place, especially during lunch and merienda. But as you can see, we only have a handful of customers due to the blast,” Capio said.

Liezel Macalalag, a seller of VCDs and DVDs, also reported fewer customers. – With Marichu Villanueva, Jose Rodel Clapano and Evelyn Macairan