Resorts World to fight for casino license

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, the listed casino and hotel company said it is fully committed to abide by the order and shall fully cooperate with the authorities on all investigations relevant to the incident.

As this developed, the House of Representatives resumes today its inquiry into the June 2 RWM rampage that killed 37 hotel guests and employees, as well as lone gunman Jessie Carlos.

Pagcor said with the suspension order, RWM must cease and desist all gaming operations while investigation on its liability regarding the June 2 incident is ongoing.

“The said suspension will remain until RWM rectifies its serious security lapses and deficiencies – which caused not only the loss of lives and damage to properties – but also placed the Philippine gaming, tourism and hospitality industries in a bad light,” Pagcor said.

“Non-compliance with the order shall cause Pagcor to impose other sanctions as may be warranted under existing laws,” it also said.

Pagcor is also requiring all integrated resorts to submit security and safety protocols to make sure that this will not happen again.

“As the country’s gaming regulator, Pagcor will continue to safeguard the interest not only of all gaming industry players but also of all guests, tourists and other stakeholders involved,” it said.

TIHGI is a joint venture between Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong Limited.

Tan, meanwhile, has yet to appear in public since the incident.

He was absent from yesterday’s annual stockholders’ meeting of Empire East Land Holdings Inc., a property company, which he chairs, but officials said this was because he had an urgent meeting.

For his part, Empire East president Anthony Yu said they join the nation in condoling with the victims of the unfortunate incident.

He also said Empire East is a separate company and wishes to refrain from making additional comments.

Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has told reporters that he wanted the owner of RWM himself to answer the congressmen’s questions.

Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, who chairs the games and amusement committee, said they invited David Ming Huat, who chairs TIHGI, instead of Tan to appear at the hearing.

Also invited were the more than 20 RWM personnel who manned the hotel’s close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and guards of Lanting security agency, the hotel’s security service provider, and Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officials.

The House committee on games and amusement is investigating the matter with the public order and security panel.

In particular, the committees are seeking the testimony of the unarmed female guard who tried to accost Carlos when he entered the gaming area without passing through the metal detector but who ran away when the gunman brandished his M4 automatic rifle.

It was a natural reaction on the part of the female guard and perhaps any person who encounters a man with a rifle, some congressmen have said.

The three committees have subpoenaed CCTV footages from May 31 to June 3, particularly those on the second floor where Carlos torched gaming tables and slot machines.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said they wanted to know if the 37 hotel guests and employees who died due to suffocation were monitored.

Those who died included Elizabeth Gonzales, wife of Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga’s third district.

BFP officers told the three committees last Wednesday that a person could die from fumes and smoke in two to five minutes.

Carlos entered the hotel-casino at 12:11 a.m. and was found dead in a fifth-floor room three hours later.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, who joined Fariñas and other colleagues in an ocular inspection of RWM last Wednesday, said the second floor that housed gaming rooms “was gutted.”

“The ceiling collapsed. The magnitude of the damage gave us the impression that the fire was extensive, unlike the torching of a few gaming tables we saw on the CCTV footage,” he said.

He said they found three CCTV rooms, including a back-up monitoring system.

Davao City Rep. Mylene Garcia said based on the testimonies given to the three committees, there was miscommunication between RWM security officers and the police.

“Responding police teams were not told that there was a back-up CCTV system that tracked the movement of the lone gunman, who could have been neutralized earlier,” Garcia said.