SC rules no insurance money for Ayala Land

The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that Ayala Land Inc. has no basis for claiming P220.5 million in insurance money for the Glorietta Mall explosion that killed 11 people in 2007.

In a notice of an October 17 resolution made public Wednesday, the High Court’s First Division denied Ayala Land’s petition challenging the Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a lower court’s dismissal of its complaint for specific performance and damages against Standard Insurance Co. Inc.

The justices found no reason to deviate from the factual findings of the appellate court and of the Makati Regional Trial Court, which resolved that Standard Insurance had valid grounds to deny the property developer’s insurance claim.

The lower courts agreed Ayala Land cannot recover insurance under its policy with Standard Insurance “since the loss or damage of the property insured was caused by an ‘excluded peril’ under the policy,” SC said.

The policy, a portion of which was quoted in the resolution, does not cover damage caused by “excluded perils” such as pollution, war, invasion, mutiny, military or popular uprising, martial law, and acts of terrorism.

Ayala Land declared that the cause of the 2007 blast was an explosive device, “which constitutes as an act of terrorism,” the SC noted.

Claiming the explosion was not caused by an explosive device because another insurer, Malayan Insurance, denied its claim under the terrorism policy “is merely an afterthought that cannot be considered by this Court,” the SC said.

Even if the High Court ruled the explosion was caused by methane gas and diesel vapor build-up, Ayala Land still cannot claim insurance, because the policy also lists pollution as an excluded peril.

The SC cited the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, which defines air pollution as any alteration of the properties of atmospheric air that will render the country’s air resources “harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety or welfare.”

“Thus, because of the leakage and build up of methane gas and diesel vapor at the basement, Standard Insurance has a valid ground to deny Ayala Land’s insurance claim,” the SC ruled.

The justices emphasized that questions of fact are not reviewable in petitions for review under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court. By rule, the SC is not a trier of facts.

The question of whether or not the explosion that occurred in Glorietta 2 in Makati on October 19, 2007, was caused by the build-up of methane gas and diesel vapor in the basement of the mall or whether the same was caused by an explosive device are questions of fact which cannot be entertained in the present case,” the resolution said. —VDS, GMA News