Last texts from smoke-filled casino: ‘I have nowhere to hide… I love you all so much’

The charred remains of the gunman in the June 2 Resorts World Manila attack were found in one of the rooms of Maxims hotel, which remains closed a week after the tragedy. —LYN RILLON

At the close of Wednesday’s 11-hour congressional hearing on the Resorts World Manila attack, lawmakers listened in silence to the last text messages sent by a dying RWM employee to her husband.

“Bhie, may barilan dito sa loob ng RWM. Wala akong mapagtaguan (There’s a shooting here inside RWM. I have nowhere to hide).”

It was the first of a series of messages sent by the trapped woman starting at 12:19 a.m. of June 2—and read aloud by a congressman during the House inquiry into the tragedy that claimed her life and that of 37 others.

At 12:26 a.m., she sent another message: “Bhie, naipit na ako dito sa second floor. May barilan na nangyayari. Please naman sumagot ka (I got trapped here on the second floor. There’s an ongoing shootout. Please reply).”

About a minute later, the employee sent her last words: “Bhie, di ko alam kung makakalabas pa ako ng buhay dito. Pero ikaw na ang bahala sa mga bata ha? Mahal na mahal ko kayo (I don’t know if I can get out of this alive. But take care of the kids. I love you all so much).”

Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting, the chair of the House games and amusements committee, entered the woman’s messages into the record as he adjourned the proceedings.

Tambunting declined to identify the woman.

The inquiry looked into last week’s deadly attack where a gunman, later identified as Jessie Javier Carlos, stormed the Pasay City casino, set gambling tables ablaze and engaged security guards in a gunfight before committing suicide in one of the rooms of an adjacent hotel.

The woman was one of the 13 Resorts World personnel who died of smoke inhalation along with casino guests.

“Imagine you were the husband of this person,” Tambunting said, directing his remarks at the Resorts World executives in attendance. “Would you just keep passing responsibility and say ‘it’s not our fault’? That’s why I understand the excitement, the intensity and the passion of the leaders of the House [in insisting] that we have to be more responsible.”

Gunman had only 1 wound
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory said DNA tests had confirmed that the charred remains of a man found at Room 510 of Maxim’s Hotel was that of Carlos, the gunman.

Chief Supt. Aurelio Trampe, the PNP Crime Lab head, also said Carlos’ remains showed that he had “no other wounds” aside from the gunshot wound in the head.

“We got DNA samples from his parents (Teodora and Fernando) and then a muscle tissue from (the remains),” Trampe said on Thursday. “The DNA profile obtained from the unidentified male is consistent with that of an offspring of Teodora and Fernando. That is the conclusion. The probability is 99.99 percent.”

“The doctor saw only one gunshot wound with the bullet exiting the head. We did not recover a slug in his body. (The wound) was through and through,” he said.

According to RWM management, their security officers also wounded Carlos in his thigh after they shot it out with the gunman. However, Trampe said the doctor who autopsied Carlos found no other gunshot wound besides that in his head.

Trampe also said the autopsy of employees and hotel guests who died in the fire showed that the cause of death was “asphyxia by suffocation.”

A Korean national who was a guest at a nearby condominium died of a heart attack.