Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III
PHOTO BY JOSEPH VIDAL
Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III believes that the deadly incident at the Resorts World (RW) Manila in Pasay City early Friday morning was a “criminal” act “not releated to any invasion, rebellion or even terrorism.”
“Remember terrorism under our laws has a technical meaning,” Pimentel said in a statement.
“Although we were alarmed and even terrorized by the RW incident, (it) still does not qualify as a terroristic act under our laws,” he said.
The Philippine National Police has also refused to call the incident an act of terror, even if the extremist group ISIS earlier claimed responsibility for the attack.
Over 30 people reportedly died as an identified gunman set parts of the casino hotel on fire before burning himself to death.
READ: Resorts World gunman burned self to death–PNP
This prompted the Senate leader to question the security arrangements being implemented at the Resorts World.
“What happened to your security arrangements? One person set your gaming floor on fire? And was able to get his hands on gambling chips worth millions? What happened to your sprinkler system? Did it work?” Pimentel asked.
READ: Police to probe possible Resorts World Manila security lapses
The Senate leader also trained his gun at the state-gaming firm, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
“To Pagcor: Do you only concern yourselves with gambling operations of this private casinos and you don’t anymore concern yourselves with security arrangements and physical matters like fire safety of the establishment you allow casinos in?” he further asked. IDL/rga