MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared an engineer from criminal liability in connection with an explosion in a mall in Makati City that killed 11 people and injured over 100 in October 2007.

But the case against five others will be pursued before the local courts, according to the DOJ in an 18-page resolution released Tuesday. They are: Clifford Arriola, operations manager of Marchem Industrial Sales and Services Inc; Marchem supervisor Joselito Buenaventura, and Marchem maintenance personnel Charlie Nepomuceno, Jonathan Ibuna, and Juan Ricafort.

The DOJ said records showed that Engineer Candelario Valdueza of the Makati Supermarket Corp. (MSC) exercised due diligence in his duties in his inspection of Glorietta 2.

The DOJ based its findings on documents prepared by Ayala Property Management Corporation (APMC), which strengthened the credibility of Valdueza, as well as his claim that he should not be held liable for the incident.

"Reckless imprudence consists in doing or not doing voluntarily, but without malice, an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the person performing or failing to perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances," the resolution said.

"In the case at bar, it is worthy to stress that the record showed that Engineer Valdueza exercised what is necessary and acted in accordance with the assigned responsibility," the DOJ said.

The DOJ, through Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno, ordered the withdrawal of the case of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and physical injuries against Valdueza.