RWM non-casino areas reopen today

RWM in Pasay City has been closed following the June 2 attack by Jessie Javier Carlos, who set the gaming area on fire that resulted in the death of 37 people. Authorities said Carlos later killed himself.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the gaming regulator, has suspended the gaming license of TIHGI until authorities conclude their investigation into the incident and determine the liability of the hotel and casino operator.

At the House of Representatives where an investigation into the incident is being conducted, it was decided to subpoena the board chairman of TIHGI – David Chua Ming Huat, a Hong Kong national – after he failed to show up in yesterday’s hearing on the rampage at the hotel-casino.

The committees on games and amusement, public order and safety, and tourism will issue the subpoena.

“He might not choose to come here, that’s up to him. If he will not appear, what comes after that is a warrant of arrest,” House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said.

He said he expected no less than the board chairman to attend an inquiry into an incident in which 37 hotel guests and employees died and warned against evading the process.

RWM president Kingson Sian informed the three committees that Huat left the country last Sunday before the company received the invitation for him two days later on Tuesday.

“He had been here visiting those who died and who were injured,” he said. He could not say when Huat would be back but promised to relay to him the decision of the House to subpoena him.

Fariñas said Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez wanted billionaire property developer Andrew Tan summoned but learned that it was Huat who chaired the board of the company running RWM.

Tan leads the Filipino investors in the hotel-casino-mall complex, the country’s first integrated resort.

During yesterday’s hearing, congressmen discovered that for at least 20 minutes, it was clear from the footage that from 12:13 a.m. of June 2, when Carlos started setting gaming tables and slot machines afire on the second floor, to 12:33 a.m., when thick smoke and fumes disabled closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, no sprinklers were working.

They made the discovery when they viewed a 20-minute CCTV video footage of the rampage supplied and played by RWM officials.

Fariñas later read a text from Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio  Gonzales Jr., who commented that regulators should make sure that fire safety and security measures in public places like resort hotels are working.

Gonzales’ wife Elizabeth and her sister, Consolacion Mijares, were among those who died in the incident.

The video material also showed that when Carlos started firing at the second floor gaming area, scores of hotel guests were scampering for safety, while the 37 escaped to a nearby pantry.

At one gaming table, Carlos unloaded a bag of ammunition before torching them. The bullets exploded one by one from the heat for 20 to 25 minutes, even while Carlos fired several rounds at the door to a chip room.

Congressmen and hotel officials said the exploding ammunition and bursts of gunfire from Carlos gave the impression that there was more than one gunman.

This probably prevented the 37 who were trapped in the pantry from leaving. Unknown to them, there were two nearby exits and the gunman had already left the second floor area.

The video footage also showed that at 12:33 a.m., thick smoke enveloped the pantry and the entire second floor, disabling the CCTV cameras.

It also showed that Carlos chanced upon two persons and motioned them to go away.

This bolstered the theory of law enforcement officials that the gunman, reportedly a gambling addict, did not intend to kill anyone and just wanted to vent his ire on the hotel-casino.

“We highlighted this footage with the audio to dramatize the fear that was instilled among the people who were hiding,” Sian said.

Quoting the hotel-casino’s security personnel, there must have been “300 rounds” of ammunition fired and exploded through fire by Carlos.

Sian said his CCTV personnel did not see the 37 people trapped in the pantry “live” on their monitors. – With Helen Flores, Emmanuel Tupas