MANILA, Philippines—Just when the malls were opening Sunday, a row of flickering candles briefly turned a corner of the bustling Makati City shopping strip into a shrine of painful remembrance.

Around 30 people, including members of an anticrime advocacy group, assembled at the site of the Glorietta 2 explosion on Sunday morning to mark the first death anniversary of its victims.

Gathering just outside a wall of galvanized iron sheets covering the entrance to the still-closed section of Glorietta 2, the group lit 11 candles on the pavement—in memory of the 11 lives that randomly intersected there on Oct. 19, 2007, only to share a violent end.

A 20-minute prayer was offered for Anthony Marius Arroyo, Maria Celeste Cruz, Jee Ann de Gracia, Jose Allen de Jesus, Maureen de Leon, Liza Enriquez, Janine Marcos, Lester Allan Peregrina, Ricardo Petras, Renier Tan, and Ceasar Niño Vidamo.

Over a hundred others were injured in the explosion, whose cause continued to be a subject of contention between the Philippine National Police and the mall’s owner, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI).

“I never really wanted to be here today. I’ve never been to Glorietta since the day it happened to my daughter,” Mercedes de Leon, mother of 23-year-old fatality Maureen, said in Filipino.

“But then I asked myself: When would be the right time? And so, finally, I’m doing this today.”

‘Good girl’

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, De Leon said she would always remember “Mau” as a “good girl” who served as a model for her three siblings and her cousins.

Later in the day, she said, Mau’s friends from high school and college, as well as officemates, would be joining her at the family residence in Lagro, Quezon City, as she marked her “babang luksa” (a Catholic tradition for ending one’s period of mourning).

De Leon said she could not help but weep and even had an urge to “shout” out loud the name of her eldest child at one point during Sunday’s 10 a.m. gathering. This was when she saw another grieving mother holding up the picture of another victim, Jee Ann de Gracia, 26.

Maureen and Jee Ann were friends. The two computer programmers were having lunch at Glorietta 2 when the explosion ripped through the building.

Jee Ann’s body was retrieved by the authorities within hours after the blast, while Maureen’s was pulled out of the rubble three days later.

Gas leak or bomb?

The PNP maintained that the explosion was caused by a mixture of methane and diesel that leaked from the mall’s basement. Conducting its own probe, however, ALI concluded it was caused by a bomb.

The Department of Justice has filed criminal charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries against eight officers and staff members of ALI lessor Makati Supermarket Corp., Marchem Industrial Sales & Services, and pipework company Metaline, but it cleared ALI officials of any liability.

Janet de Gracia, Jee Ann’s mother, said that while she had accepted the family’s terrible loss, those responsible for what the PNP had insisted to be an “industrial accident” should still be prosecuted.

“We took the P5 million in cash offered to us by ALI, but we were the second to the last to do so. My husband will pursue the case at the (justice department),” De Leon pointed out.

Family members representing four of the 11 victims took part in the memorial.

Dante Jimenez, who led a delegation of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) to the rites, said he received text messages from the other families saying they were holding their “babang-luksa” in private.

The explosion, Jimenez stressed, should be a reminder to all owners of commercial establishments to put consumer safety and security on top of their concerns, especially as the holiday season nears.

There was no ALI representative present during the brief rites. The Inquirer earlier reported that the company held a special Mass for the victims on Friday.