RWM better level with Pagcor

Deedee Domingo, chair and CEO of the government-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), may soon lift its suspension order on Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) casino.

The casino’s license to operate has been suspended after 37 people, including the wife of a congressman, died of smoke inhalation when a lone gunman went on a shooting rampage and set fire to gaming tables. The gunman later killed himself.

Domingo said Pagcor was taking into consideration the huge investments ($1.3 billion) and the 6,000 people employed by the company in its casino complex.

If Resorts World invested a huge amount of money in its casino-complex, how come it scrimped on security?

Why did it hire a run-of-the-mill security agency which gives its guards meager pay?

Needless to say, guards who receive meager pay run at the first sign of trouble, as the guards of Lantin Security Agency did when confronted by a lone gunman.

No, sir, it’s not true that Lantin guards engaged the gunman, Jessie Carlos, in a gunfight. The hotel closed-circuit television camera showed a guard scampering away when they met face to face.

The hotel management’s claim that the guards wounded the gunman is also not true as results of medico-legal examination on him showed he sustained only one wound—a shot to the head which was self-inflicted.

Pagcor should withhold lifting its suspension order on Resorts World until the casino hotel’s management levels with the gaming agency.

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To the Rotary Club of Manila: Thank you very much for the award I received on Thursday for Investigative Columnist of the Year.

I feel deeply honored for the award from the oldest and, needless to say, most prestigious Rotary Club in the country.

I will not rest on my laurels but will continue to adhere to the tenets of journalism: fairness, objectivity and accuracy.

These are trying times for this columnist as a big religious organization appears to thwart my mission of serving my country and people through my column in the Inquirer, as well as in Bandera.

A total of 47 libel cases have been filed against me throughout the country.

I understand many more libel cases are being filed from Batanes to Jolo.