Serendra tenant dies from injury complications

MANILA, Philippines - The tenant of the condominium unit in Taguig City that was hit by an explosion last May 31 died yesterday from complications resulting from the injuries sustained in the blast.

Angelito San Juan, the 63-year-old tenant of unit 501-B of Two Serendra condominium, died in the intensive care unit of the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

Lawyer Raymond Fortun, who is representing Mariane Cayton, the US-based owner of the condominium unit, said San Juan died at 12:20 a.m. from multiple organ failure.

San Juan’s death brings the death toll in the May 31 blast to four.

Three people were initially killed and five others, including San Juan, were injured in the blast that authorities later said was caused by gas leak.

Fortun said the Cayton family, which considers San Juan a close friend, has yet to issue a statement. 

“The family is still in consultation,” Fortun said.

Serendra Inc., developer of Two Serendra and an affiliate company of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), expressed its condolences to the San Juan family.

“We are saddened by the demise of Mr. Angelito San Juan and we extend our deepest sympathies and our condolences to his family,” Serendra Inc. said in a statement.

Malacañang also conveyed its condolences to the family of San Juan.  

“We condole with the family of Mr. Angelito San Juan who passed away,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

San Juan, a US-based software architect for a car manufacturer, had earlier asked Cayton for permission to use the condo unit from May 31 to June 8, as he would be attending a wedding. 

Cayton instructed San Juan to get in touch with her aunts Alicia Mendez and Herminia Ochoa to get the keys to the unit.

Following the explosion, San Juan had been confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center after sustaining second degree burns on 85 percent of his body.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II earlier said the blast that hit the condominium unit was caused by a leaking liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipe. 

However, investigators are still trying to piece together the sequence of events that led to the blast.  Investigators were supposed to interview San Juan as soon as he gets well.

Fortun said San Juan was never sufficiently lucid to answer questions and give any statement since he was placed under intensive care at the hospital.

According to Fortun, San Juan last spoke to Ochoa and told her that he was going out of the unit some five minutes before the explosion occurred.

San Juan, a software architect for a car manufacturer in California, said he was holding the doorknob and felt as if he was being electrocuted.

Fortun maintained there is enough evidence at the blast site to piece together the sequence of events leading to the blast.

Fortun said Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) helped foot San Juan’s hospital bills. 

ALI also gave assistance to the victims of the blast, one of them Salvador Natividad, an employee of Abenson Appliance Corp.

His widow Lilibeth said she would no longer file charges since ALI and Serendra have given their family the necessary assistance to cope with the loss.

Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano also expressed the city government’s condolences to the family of San Juan. Cayetano assured San Juan’s relatives that the investigation into the Serendra blast would soon be finished.

Earlier this week, Serendra Inc., developer of the Serendra condominiums, shut off the LPG supply to the One Serendra and Two Serendra condominiums.

In a statement, Serendra Inc. admitted that it cannot “ensure the continuing compliance by individual unit owners with the required safety measures within their units.” 

Serendra Inc. strongly recommended a permanent closure of the LPG distribution system in the condominium. 

“Mindful that its position may be unpopular and inconvenient for the Serendra community, the developer nonetheless considers the safety of the community as the paramount consideration for its recommendation,” it added.

Jorge Marco, ALI corporate communication head, confirmed the shutdown of the LPG distribution system would become permanent.

Unit owners were advised to shift to using electric stoves. “Yes it is permanent. There was always an option to (go) electric,” Marco said.

Marco added the move to shut off the LPG supply was also in line with the order of Roxas for an LPG supply shut off and the conduct of a thorough check of the gas distribution system in the entire Serendra complex.

Roxas declared the cause of the explosion was from a gas leak but clarified experts will have to be consulted to determine how it caused the blast. He said foreign experts would assist local investigators from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).  – With  Dino Balabo, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Delon Porcalla