Big Bang sa . . . Glorietta
I have been staring at the photos of the Glorietta blast for 4 days and I still can’t believe what I’m seeing. The damage is just unbelieveable; I’m dumbfounded. Glorietta is practically my second home in Makati: I spend more time there than I do at my Dad’s place or any of my siblings’ houses. Yes, I am quite the mallrat. My Dad practically raised me in Viramall, Makati Cinema Square, and Rustan’s.
The latest reports are that the blast was most likely caused by either a diesel gas leak from a generator or a build-up of methane gas from the waste water treatment facility. For most of us, this is definitely a relief; if it had really been caused by a bomb planted by some terrorist group as originally reported, the repercussions would be far greater. Our reputation as a terrorist-y country would be strengthened, we would be mentioned in the same breath as Afghanistan and Palestine, and, of course, our poor economy would take the blow. The United States announced a travel advisory before the dust had even settled. But I’m sure this doesn’t make it any less painful for the family and friends of the victims. Is it really a consolation to them that their loved ones died because of the negligence or indifference of the Health and Safety officials? They say that no one is to blame in accidents and if this really was a true accident, then fine; but if this catastrophe was a result of carelessness or laziness, that’s a different story. In a mall that large, generators are essential so it must’ve been someone’s job to make sure they’re well maintained and ready to start up if/when a "brown out" hits and they should have noticed a gas leak if there was one. Similarly, someone must’ve been in charge of the waste water treatment facility. Where were they? Shouldn’t they have been concerned over the methane build-up and brought it to someone’s attention? These are questions that I’m sure will never be answered but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be asked all the same.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and as tragic as this incident is, I do hope that this serves as a wake-up call to the mall security. This (may or) may not have been a terrorist act but that doesn’t mean that mall security should relax. I’ve always been amused by the guards who "check" your purse by sticking the tip of a 7 inch ballpoint pen into it without taking their eyes off the cellphone which they’re texting on with the other hand. I can’t even count the number of times my Dad (Senior Mallrat) and I have driven into the mall parking lot, stopped at the security check-point, watched with amused smiles on our faces as the guard pops the trunk open, looks at the 2 shotguns, basketfull of shotgun ammo, and bow & arrow set, blinks, slams the trunk shut, and waves us through to the ticket booth without a second glance while my dad shakes his head and mutters under his breath "stupid seku-". I was always amused by the whole thing because I know that if the guard had indeed stopped us and prevented us from parking (which would result in us missing the current war movie that my dad would so be looking forward to) then Dad would raise bloody hell, but now that I see the result of what could have been a bomb going off in the mall, I know that a little inconvenience is a small price to pay for safety and I know that Dad (now) feels the same way. Obviously, the mall is Dad’s second home as much as it is mine so I’m sure this blast shook him up as much as it did me.
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After what seemed like forever (but in reality was less than a week), my internet connection at home is up and running again thanks to the Comcast technicians who came over yesterday to sort everything out.
What was actually just a simple matter of an inverted splitter became a convoluted problem of deactivated modems, degraded cables, and drained internet-testing machine-thinggie batteries. Yeesh.
