Condo unit owner denies gas lines were touched

MANILA, Philippines - The California-based owner of the Two Serendra condominium unit that was ripped apart by an explosion last month told investigators that the unit’s kitchen and gas lines were not touched during a recent renovation.

In her sworn statement that she submitted to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame, Quezon City last Friday, owner Marianne Cayton said Unit 501-B was renovated to build another bedroom, and the work started in the first week of April this year and was completed last May 28.

The explosion at the Two Serendra at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig happened on the evening of May 31.

Cayton said she had contracted C+G Interior Design Studio to make the renovation.

She purchased the unit in 2007 but the title was only issued to her in 2010. According to Cayton, she bought the unit for her family and friends when they visit the Philippines for vacations and for short-term leases not exceeding nine months, the last of which was last October.

Cayton, a designer from C+G Interior Design Studio, prepared the renovation plans, which she later approved.

She hired an outside contractor to do the renovation. She said the plans were submitted to the Serendra management that also approved the project.

“Special mention is made herein that the renovation did not involve any changes to the kitchen area, including the stove and the sink, nor did it involve a relocation of any existing gas lines, nor were there any works made therein where the existing gas lines would be affected in any way,” said Cayton in her statement, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.

Cayton said she last visited unit 501-B last May 23 to check on the progress of the renovation job before she went back to Anaheim, California.

According to Cayton, while in the US, her family friend Angelito San Juan called her up and asked if he could use the condominium unit at Two Serendra from May 31 to June 8 since he would be attending a wedding in the Philippines. San Juan, 63, was earlier reported as a US-based software architect for a car manufacturer.

Cayton said she then instructed San Juan to get in touch with her aunts Alicia Mendez and Herminia Ochoa as they are the ones in possession of the keys to the unit.

She said that the renovation work could not have been the cause of the explosion as she was informed that there were no inflammable devices, implements or equipment at the condominium unit as of May 31.

Cayton stressed that Serendra management approved the renovation.

The management had “full authority and supervision over the approval of plans and the inspection of ongoing works.”

“If, from the plans submitted, there was the possibility of gas lines being hit by reason of the renovation work, Serendra management would have disapproved the same. By approving the plans, it is implied that Serendra management had no concern of any gas lines being affected by the intended renovations,” she said in her statement.

Cayton also reassured probers of her full cooperation in order to complete the investigation into the cause of the explosion.

Meanwhile, Raymond Fortun, lawyer of Cayton, yesterday reported that San Juan remains confined at the intensive care unit of St. Luke’s Medical Center, in Bonifacio Global City.

He is recovering from burns he suffered from the blast and will need to undergo surgery.

Fortun however said that doctors cannot perform the surgery on San Juan until his heart and lungs are strong enough.