Okada Manila cuts 1K workers

MANILA, Philippines — Okada Manila is reducing its workforce through a retrenchment program as a result of the difficult business environment brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to its employees Tuesday, Okada Manila said the company has had no revenue since the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine was imposed.

“Not having any revenues since the lockdown has been financially draining and caused severe losses to the company and if this is not addressed, its losses will pile up. Okada Manila is also constrained to change the way it does business, which means it will just require a smaller workforce,” Okada Manila president Takashi Oya said in a letter addressed to the company’s team members.

For the company to remain a viable business, it would have to let go of at least 1,000 employees, Takashi said.

The company employs roughly 10,000 people.

“They will receive a separation pay in accordance with law,” he said.

Moving forward, Takashi  said Okada Manila would continue to prepare for the new normal and “provide the same five star experience that it is known for.”

In its latest performance report, Okada Manila said gross gaming revenue nearly doubled to P4.6 billion in December 2019 from P2.5 billion a year ago.

Of the amount, revenue from VIP table games grew to P2.7 billion from P1 billion, while revenue from mass table games grew to P964 million from P666 million.

Okada Manila’s December 2019 results brought the company’s total revenue to P42.4 billion from P29 billion last year.

Okada Manila was founded by Kazuo Okada. However, the embattled pachinko king lost control of his companies, including Okada Manila, after his children turned against him in 2017 because of allegations of fraud.