ARMENIO Gomez, the real name of the chief security officer of Resorts World Manila, appears to be using the name of his older brother Armeen Gomez, a lawyer.
That surfaced after documents obtained from the Philippine Military Academy showed that the brothers entered the academy but were both discharged.
The one claiming to be Armeen Gomez of Resorts World Manila, who appeared during the recent congressional hearing, belonged to PMA Class of 1999 before he was discharged while the real one, whose complete name is Armeen Alain Gomez, entered the academy in 1997.
Meanwhile, the joint committees probing the Resorts World tragedy excluded the hotel-casino owner Andrew Tan from at least 33 invited resource persons during the resumption of its hearing on Tuesday.
Lawmakers led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez have stressed the need for Tan to appear in the hearing to shed light on the incident in which gambling addict Jessie Javier Carlos barged into the hotel with a rifle on June 2 and torched the casino tables, killing 37 before he locked himself in a room and killed himself.
Armenio and Armeen hail from Camarines Sur and their middle name is Basister. The real Armeen was born on Jan. 22, 1976 while Armenio was born on March 11, 1978.
Armeen Alain passed the Bar examination in 2007 and is now the City Legal Officer of Naga.
Social media accounts showed that Armenio or “Mr. Armeen Basister Gomez” serves as Chief Safety and Security Officer of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.
“Mr. [Armeen] Gomez has over 10 years of management and leadership experience in asset protection, fraud control, safety administration, investigation and related functions.
“Beginning in 2005, he worked for De La Salle Philippines’ Center for Safety and Security where Mr. Gomez was promoted from Head to Director in 2008. From 2000 to 2005, he worked for PhilHealth…”
Armenio is one of the key officials of Resorts World Manila that are being investigated by Congress and the National Police in connection with the attack at the casino.
Manila Standard tried to get a comment from officials of the Southern Police District but failed.
During a recent congressional hearing, lawmakers questioned the hotel’s chief security officer over security lapses, including posting a lone guard who failed to stop Carlos at the main entrance.
Armenio also got into trouble for claiming he was a college graduate, only to retract this under questioning by the lawmakers led by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
A separate investigation is also being conducted by the Southern Police District in coordination with the National Capital Region Police Office.
NCRPO chief Oscar Albayalde said security officers of the hotel were invited for questioning to shed light on why their personnel abandoned the establishment when the 42-year-old Carlos barged-in, fired a long firearm repeatedly before burning the gaming area, leaving at least 37 hotel guests and employees dead from suffocation.
The police found that the security men also abandoned the Closed-Circuit Television Camera monitoring room during the incident.
Albayalde said hotel officials and their security managers would be held criminally liable for their lapses.
Footage captured by hotel security cameras showed that the gunman, wearing a black suit and a bonnet, entered the gaming area, fired at the televisions and torched tables and slot machines, and stole gambling chips worth P113 million before committing suicide at the fifth floor of the hotel.
It also showed that the gunman casually walked into the gaming area from the second floor parking lot, bypassing the metal detectors at the inspection area.
A female security employee also tried to prevent the gunman but to no avail. With Maricel V. Cruz