UPPOSE you were asked to investigate the Glorietta Blast in order to determine its true cause, and you were told that a BOMB is suspected, what is the first thing you would look for in the Basement?
Right! Where is the CRATER? A bomb that size -- capable of blowing up three floors of the mall, scattering and wrecking dozens of cars and trucks outside the building like they were Tonka toys--such an explosion would leave a big hole in the ground. As an accident investigator you want to find that hole to strengthen the theory that it was indeed a bomb, and to estimate the amount of high explosive used, based on the size of the crater.
I think that a crater would prove that a bomb was used, and trace amounts of the type of high explosive used would be found in the crater, as well as remnants of the explosive device. Conversely if there is no crater to be found, the chances are almost nil that the cause was a bomb.
Ayala Land Inc. who own and operate Glorietta Mall, yesterday officially disagreed with the government's official finding that the blast was a methane gas explosion. They claim that trace amounts of RDX (an ingredient of the plastic explosive, C4) collected at the site suggest a bomb was involved.
Let us grant, arguendo, that RDX was found in the basement. We ought to ask, where was it found? In a crater?
Randy David has Delusions of Omniscience as his Sunday column when he makes it sound like the National Capitol Region Police Commander, Geary Barias and the police investigators just ignored the report that RDX had been found in that basement, together, I suppose, in a grand conspiracy with the US FBI, the Australian Federal Police, and all the other investigators that participated?
What Barias said was that there was no other evidence to support the theory of a bomb explosion. Like a CRATER! Also no bomb parts or remnants were found, nor was any more RDX detected by the FBI with their fancy new gear capable of parts per billion detection of RDX from up to four feet underground, such as in land mines like the kind the NPA uses. Trace amounts of RDX were reportedly found on the first or second day of the investigation, but it was apparently not collected properly (where, when, how, by whom), no more of RDX was found, and no other component of C4 but RDX has been claimed to be found.
How can we decide between the two competing theories of a methane gas deflagration, and a bomb made from high explosive like C4 or TNT?
I think simple physical reasoning can help.
In a bomb explosion involving material like C4 or TNT, the force of the explosion is pretty much in all directions and emanates from the high explosive detonation. Consequently, damage is greatest at the very center of the bomb blast.
A methane gas "explosion" is very different from a bomb blast, leaving a very different set of physical evidence. It's really more like the sudden release of high pressure gas from a confined space and occurs in the direction of the weakest portion of the container. In the case of Glorietta the "container" was the basement. It's weakest portion was the floor above it. It is posited by the investigators that methane and diesel vapor built up in the basement over time and was ignited by a spark from malfunctioning electrical gear (or maybe some unfortunate soul came into the basement for a cigarette!). When volatile gas like methane burns, its internal pressure builds up exponentially in a flash, and something was bound to give, in this case, the floor, as opposed to the ground or the sides of the Glorietta mall basement.
The type of damage observed in this incident, in which MOST of it occurred ABOVE the basement is truly consistent with a methane gas deflagration. The absence of a crater cannot be explained by a trace or two of RDX, which is a common enough ingredient that could have come from anywhere or anything, not just C4. I think this is why almost all local and foreign investigators eliminated the possibility of a bomb explosion, after a simple physical inspection of the basement.
So for all you BOMB CONSPIRACY THEORISTS out there, I ask, WHERE IS THE CRATER?
