Glorietta 2 blast an issue of transparency

There are stories that simply won’t go away. Like the Glorietta 2 blast that killed 11 shoppers and passersby, the ZTE bribery case and, among other controversies, the “Hello, Garci” tape.

In more ways than one, they make the foreign business sector jittery, partly because of the refusal or inability of people in government to immediately address the issue of credibility.

Despite the avowed policy of government and its agencies to make transparent its dealings with the people, many in the foreign sector—the natives, it seems, have already given up—see massive cover-ups and half-truths so much so that investments from abroad are not as vibrant anymore, compared with those in neighboring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and even China.

The case of the Glorietta 2 blast tells it all. The police maintained the blast was the result of a combination of chemicals and fumes, suggesting that Ayala Corp., the owner of the mall, was to blame for the unfortunate incident.

At the same time, however, the police, also said their findings were not yet final, indicating that the results of the investigation were nothing but preliminary. So why did the police issue the preliminary report? It seems they just wanted to show that transparency is a sacred commandment in this corner of the world.

Ayala Land promptly refuted the police theory, saying the local and foreign experts it had commissioned attest to the impossibility of a leak emanating from the basement of Glorietta 2.

But Ayala Land was careful not to say the blast was the handiwork of terrorists.

That the blast happened just when President Arroyo was being linked to a scandal where some of her underlings were accused of giving bribes to governors and congressmen, allegedly in the hope that they would campaign for a Charter change, generated a lot of suspicions and fears that only utmost transparency in the investigation can allay.

To be sure, the loose talk that the government or some its rogue agents had something to do with the blast has, up to this point, remained just that—loose talk.

Still, the credibility of the government remains at stake, and only a credible explanation of the blast can erase public suspicions. The failure of the majority in the House of Representatives to make a closure of the Garci tapes controversy; the unresolved the ZTE bribery case, and now, the Ayala Land blast, to name a few, speak volumes, as far as transparency in government is concerned.

By refusing to disclose material facts or to allow government officials to appear in public hearings suggests that honesty is relative when it comes finding out the truth, be it the Ayala Land blast or similar other cases where people want to know more about the truth.  

Jaime Ayala, president and chief executive officer of Ayala Land, urged the police to “really look into other angles to find out what happened.”

The police must “explore other possibilities,” he said.

Ayala revealed that the company had hired prominent experts such as Stephen Etheridge, a chartered scientist of the United Kingdom’s Science Council and expert on biogas, and Burgoynes, an international consulting firm specializing in forensic probes of fires, explosions and engineering failure, to prove that a gas-and-fumes blast was just that impossible.

But the police said it had its own experts who earlier conducted their own investigation that proved the blast was due to gas and fumes that accumulated within the building.

Romulo Asis, chief of the NBI Anti-Terrorism Division, said the unit had not completely dispelled other possibilities in the probe of the Glorietta 2 blast. The NBI is part of the PNP-led task force investigating the explosion.

The lesson we should learn is to keep our mouths shut unless we are ready to talk. 

raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph

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