Roxas assures ‘thorough and conclusive’ probe into Serendra blast

Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Following the death of tenant Angelito San Juan in the May 31 Two Serendra condominium blast, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II assured the public Thursday that the inquiry into the case will be “thorough and conclusive.”

He said the government has shown transparency in its efforts to get to the bottom of the case, noting that even foreign experts were tapped to help in the probe.

“Dapat siguro magpakahinahon tayo dahil hayag po at transparent ang ginagawa ng gobyerno dito. In fact kumuha pa tayo ng foreign experts dahil kulang tayo sa karanasan at kaalaman sa pag-imbestiga ng pangyayaring ito,” Roxas said in a radio interview.

(Let’s not worry because the government has been transparent with this investigation. In fact, we even tapped foreign experts because we lacked the experience and knowledge to deal with this kind of incident.)

However, Roxas said authorities have yet to determine the sequence of events that led to the blast at unit 501B of Two Serendra.

“Malinaw na gas explosion,” Roxas said. “Ang tanong saan ba pumalpak ang sistema? Mali ba ang design? Yung mga sensor at saka yung mga automatic na shutoff ay pumalya ba? Yung installation sa unit ginalaw ba o hindi? Hindi natin masabi kaya kumuha tayo ng expert.”

(Clearly it was a gas explosion…the question is why the system failed. Was the design flawed? Did the sensor and automatic shutoff fail? Was the electrical installation at the unit altered? We cannot say, that’s why we asked the help of experts.)

The 63-year-old San Juan, according to lawyer Raymond Fortun, his counsel, died at 12:20 a.m. at the Intensive Care Unit of St. Luke’s Medical Center due to multiple organ failure.

The explosion occurred only hours after San Juan arrived in the Philippines, on a brief vacation to attend the wedding of his high school classmate’s daughter in the following days.

He was lent the unit by his friends and fellow US immigrants George and Marianne Cayton. The Caytons bought the property in 2008 as their vacation home in the Philippines.

San Juan was on his way out to a birthday dinner when the explosion tore through the apartment at around 8:15 p.m.

“Our sympathies go to the family and loved ones of Angelito San Juan for their grievous loss,” Roxas said.

Meanwhile, Fortun said in a television interview that even with the death of his client, “there is more than sufficient evidence on site” to ascertain what really went wrong that one Friday evening.

“Mr. San Juan would only be like cherry on top of the cake [in the investigation],” he said, adding that authorities weren’t able to get any statement from San Juan before he passed away.

“So sa akin po hindi na masyadong ganun ka-material talaga yung statement ni Angelito San Juan other than just to complete [the] puzzle,” he added.