On the morning of last Friday, when so many questions about the casino attack were still unanswered, I asked DWIZ reporter Aya Yupangco what he was seeing for the benefit of the listeners of our “Karambola” program. Yupangco said he was surprised that the only smoke he could see came from the top of the building —no smoke was coming out of the sides of the building, as was usual with such incidents. “¨That observation made me conclude that there was not enough ventilation in the structure, which forced the smoke up to the top, where an atrium was. Little did I know that this would be just one of so many other questions that would need answers, and none of them had to do with terrorism.
No, the Islamic State did not pull off a daring attack at the heart of Metro Manila. But the terror caused is no less scary than if militant Islamists did descend on Resorts World Manila, especially if it is proven that the casino operator could not really ensure the safety of its clientele.
While some media outlets had a field day alleging terrorist involvement in the murderous attack by a single, gambling-addicted former government worker on the RWM casino last Friday, more important issues needed to be addressed. And they have to do with the apparent lack of adequate security and fire safety measures by the casino operator, a joint venture with Chinese gaming company Genting and local tycoon Andrew Tan.
That 37 casino guests and Resorts World employees died in the incident not because they were fired upon by the lone gunman but because of smoke inhalation is truly tragic. And it made the head of the government agency in charge of regulating casinos wonder if the management of RWM was not in fact guilty of criminal negligence and should be made to answer for the killings as much as Jessie Carlos, whose deranged robbery attempt directly caused the carnage.
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Chairman Andrea Domingo said RWM should explain if it had adequately-armed and -trained security people to address similar attacks. And she wanted to know if the casino complied with basic safety regulations such as providing enough exits and exhaust systems and making sure that it used building materials that did not make it dangerous for people to be trapped inside in case of a fire.
It’s hard to imagine a facility as heavily monitored and guarded as an upscale casino-hotel-mall complex like Resorts World to fall so easily in the face of an attack by a single perpetrator, no matter how well-armed and determined he was. But Carlos seemed to have exploited all the weaknesses of RWM, from the failure of security personnel to adequately screen people entering with unconcealed high-powered weapons, to the toxic and easily combustible carpets and other fixtures in the casino, to the ultimately fatal lack of exits and exhaust vents in the entire facility.
Surely, the investors in a business enterprise as capital-intensive as a five-star “gaming” emporium such as RWM must have paid attention to such basic matters as how to neutralize an armed attacker and making sure that patrons can be safely escorted out in the event of a robbery, a fire or both. The attack might as well have been staged by terrorists, if the casualty count alone is used as a basis; that no one died from gunfire except the debt-unhinged perpetrator himself, who took his own life when it became clear that he could not escape, only amplifies the apparent negligence of the casino operator.
Tan and his foreign partners must go beyond commiserating with the victims’ families and offering them cash. They must convince the people who make their business so lucrative that the casino isn’t just looking at its bottom line—and to hell with their safety.
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Speaking of that incident, it’s truly unfortunate that an organization like Rappler, which wants so desperately to be considered a legitimate outlet for news, can seize upon the flimsiest of bases to immediately cry “terrorism” in the case of Resorts World. When the authorities conclusively proved that Carlos was not a “lone wolf” sent by the Islamic State to sow terror in Metro Manila, Rappler boss Maria Ressa could only say that an IS-inspired news website had repeatedly reported that the terrorist caliphate had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Before Carlos was identified and the footage of the casino’s closed-circuit television monitors proved the terror angle completely false, Ressa went the rounds of international media to explain why the attack bore the signature of IS. This, even if her only real basis for saying so was the aforementioned questionable website.
These days, when the real IS-style terrorists are still holed up in Marawi City, it’s “sexy” to allege that the caliphate has also struck in Manila. With all the terror attacks happening all over the world, the latest of which was the killing of seven people in London by three terror suspects riding a van and brandishing long knives, alleging that IS is also behind the casino carnage makes perfect sense to many people who have already convinced themselves that the terrorists are already here and looking for any opportunity to strike.
It certainly didn’t help that the anti-Duterte politicians and their online hangers-on were also quick to pin the blame on the same Islamic terrorists who inspired the Maute gang of bandits that took over Marawi for the casino attack. But why let the truth get in the way of a good story, right, especially if it’s told by a self-styled terrorism expert like Ressa?