Business as usual in Serendra after blast

Rappler.com

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Ayala Land is maintaining a business-as-usual mode at the commercial areas next to Serendra condominium in Bonifacio Global City following a blast that killed 3

BUSINESS AS USUAL. A Bread Talk retail store in Market!Market! shopping mall across Serendra residential and commercial complex prepares to open after a blast incident. Photo by Angela Casuay/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is maintaining a business-as-usual mode at the commercial areas next to its residential project in Bonifacio Global City following a blast that killed 3 people.

Jorge Marco, the spokesperson for Ayala Land, said in an interview hours after the 8pm explosion ripped through 10 units at its Two Serendra condominium project on Friday, May 31, that the malls and retail establishments nearby will remain open to cater to the public on Saturday, June 1.

The restaurants, bars and retail outlets in the Serendra area will be open since these are “outside the cordoned off area,” Marco told radio DZMM.

Market!Market, a mid-range shopping mall fronting the Serendra residential and commercial blocks, will also open.

Only a part of McKinley Parkway Road, which separates Serendra and Market!Market!, will be closed to traffic, Marco said. The delivery van with the 3 casualties was plying this road when a concrete slab from the affected Serendra unit fell, pinning them down.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said in a press conference that the street area will stay cordoned off as investigators conduct a scientific analysis of the incident, including looking into the trajectory of the falling concrete block.

“It’s a Saturday. Our store is open and people are walking around like they use to on a weekend. We think [the blast incident] is isolated,” Jeannie Javelosa, part owner of the Echo Store in the Serendra retail area a few meters away from the Serendra condo building blast site, told Rappler over the phone. 

Crisis mode

In a statement released close to midnight, Ayala Land, the posh condominium’s property developer, said Building B of Two Serendra “has been evacuated and the residents are being taken care of and provided with lodging while the incident is being investigated.”

Marco said the affected residents are billeted in a hotel also owned by the Ayalas.

President Benigno Aquino III visited and personally inspected the affected Two Serendra complex.

Roxas said engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways, City of Taguig, and the Ayala group of companies “will be checking on gas pipelines, electricals, structurals and general safety” of the affected building.

The commercial properties within the Ayala Land residential projects are managed by unit Ayala Property Management Corp. 

Ayala Land is the country’s largest property company, but rival SM Prime will dislodge it after the Sy-led property and mall units merge within the year. – Rappler.com


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