RESORTS World Manila faces criminal negligence charges, civil lawsuits and possible suspension of its temporary authority to run a casino on account of the June 2 attack that killed 37 guests and employees, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimente said Sunday.
“We all have to set an example out of the Resorts World tragedy so that in the future, the public will hopefully enjoy superior protection in the gaming zones, hotels and shopping malls,” Pimentel said.
He made his statement even as an official said the police were investigating the possible links of Jessie Javier Carlos, the gunman behind the attack at Resorts World Manila, to the two men killed in Paco, Manila, on June 1.
Metro Manila Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said they had received reports that Carlos and the slain men, Elmer Mitra Jr. and Alvin Cruzin, knew one another.
He said they were still verifying information that Carlos, Mitra and Cruzin were seen together the night before the attack at Resorts World that resulted in the death of the 37.
“There’s a big chance that before the incident in Resorts World Manila, the three had been together,” Albayalde told dzMM radio.
Pimentel said everybody was counting on the Justice department to prepare criminal action once the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection and the National Bureau of Investigation had submitted their findings on the incident.
“We are also hoping that the families who lost their loved ones will eventually file a civil lawsuit for damages,” he said.
The state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. could possibly also suspend or cancel Travelers International Hotel Group
Inc.’s provisional authority to operate the casino at Resorts World, Pimentel said.
Travellers is putting up another casino-hotel complex, dubbed Resorts World Bayshore, which is set to open next year in Entertainment City in Parañaque City.
Pimentel said Resorts World failed miserably on three occasions: To overwhelm and prevent the entry of the gunman at a security checkpoint, to evacuate everybody out to safety and to suppress the fires that Carlos set off that suffocated the 37.
“We are convinced that the 37 guests and staff who died of smoke inhalation could have been saved had everybody been diligently removed from the gaming area and had the fires there been put down without delay,” Pimentel said.
He said people died because Resorts World either mistakenly presumed that everybody had been safely taken out or simply abandoned them.