Last night, my mom and I watched Palaban which discussed the Glorietta 2 tradegy. Miriam Quiambao, Malou Mangahas, and Ali Sotto questioned police officer Barias, Trillianes' lawyer, and a UP chemical engineer professor about the intrigues and controversies behind the event. My mom, who was also a chemical engineer, protested a few days about the findings of the investigators. She complained that the explosion was so big, methane gas wasn't the culprit behind it. She added that the foul or unusual smell should have surfaced and detected by people before the incident happened but no one complained about it. She also told us that it is impossible that diesel heated up because, as what the news said, diesel won't cause explosion that big unless it was forced to be heated at 210 degrees celsius. Though she explained that a small spark from any electrical wiring or machinery could trigger or ignite a reaction, the explosion in Glorietta should include not only a bomb-like destruction but also fire. The puzzling thing for me was the CCTV camera shown in the news which indicated the time when the explosion happened. It was exactly 1:30 p.m. when the entrance-exit doors of G2 blasted off. Could the explosion be a terrorist attack? A diversionary tactic? Or a mischievous act of a weirdo? The time may indicate it was staged. It was planned.
For Barias and the rest of the investigators, it could not be because if it is terrorism, there should be a public appearance of the group behind it, maybe another threats coming out for the authorities, and any media-related acts for them to be known. Mangahas doubted it. According to her, the 9-11 attack didn't experience any of those after its tradegy. The US government had to grill the suspected terrorist first before he appeared on TV.
However, the chemical engineer in the show mentioned that the amount of methane gas can be computed to verify the methane gas theory. Barias contended that the gas was locked up in the basement that's why no one smelled it. The basement lacked proper ventilation. Thus, the police blamed it to the Ayala to management for their "industrial failure".
Enter Trillianes, who, according to his lawyer, was the "sumbungan" of the intelligence officers about any child's play that Malacanang would do. The incident was a diversionary tactic of the administration to divert our attention and also the media attention to this tradegy to slow down the corruption-bribery allegations surrounding the government officials and the first family. Obviously, we have so many watchful eyes surrounding the government and we are unstoppable in doing that. Both Malacanang and Trillanes should know that.
