City of Dreams Manila has started laying off some of its employees just seven months since it opened to the public in Parañaque City in December 2014. The casino-resort, located on a 6.2-hectare property at the Entertainment City project of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., had a soft opening in December and a formal opening in February this year.
One of the affected employees working for one of the high-end restaurants at City of Dreams Manila said she was among dozens of employees, including restaurant staff and casino dealers, who lost their jobs. She was indirectly hired by City of Dreams through a recruitment agency.
City of Dreams Manila, a joint venture of Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment and Belle Corp. of the SM Group, confirmed that some of the employees were let go, apparently as a part of cost rationalization.
“With the gaming business not ramping up since City of Dreams Manila soft opened in December last year and officially opened in February, the management of Melco Crown [Philippines] Resort Corp. has taken proactive means to ramp up the business and undertake initiatives that would rationalize cost effectiveness and efficiency in the interest of the company and all the stakeholders, primarily its employees,” the operator of casino-resort said in a statement to MST Chatter.
“In line with this, the company has taken a step towards rightsizing, and has to temporarily suspend employment with certain employees. This proactive stance, though a tough and difficult decision affecting less than 2 percent of its total manpower, will contribute to the sustainability of business, which when it picks up, will enable these employees to resume employment,” it said.
Melco Crown (Phils.) Resorts Corp. said it remained optimistic that the gaming market would rebound and make the company well positioned to play a key role in further enhancing the Philippines as a leading leisure and tourism destination in the region.