Trump labels Philippines shooting ‘terror attack’

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump offered “his thoughts and prayers” to those affected by the violence at the Resorts World Manila before his momentous announcement he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate accord.

But reports said Trump got laughs as he called the violence in the casino complex a “terrorist attack” when Philippine authorities had yet to make such determination.

“I would like to begin by addressing the terrorist attack in Manila,” Trump said at the start of his speech before it was found that the shooting incident was caused by a robbery attempt.

“We’re closely monitoring the situation but it is really very sad as to what’s going on in the world with terror. Our thoughts and our prayers are with all of those affected,” he added.

A US official was quoted as saying that Trump was “freelancing” when he associated the shooting incident in Resorts World Manila with terrorism and “a laugh went up in the Situation Room” after Trump made the comment.

US First Lady Melania Trump also expressed her thoughts and prayers to those who were injured during the incident at the casino complex.

The immediate reaction among the Filipino community in the Washington area was that President Duterte would declare martial law throughout the Philippines.

Last week, Duterte declared a 60-day martial law in Mindanao because of the battle for Marawi, a largely Muslim city, which forced the evacuation of thousands of people and left at least 140 people dead.

US, UK, Australia warn their citizens

The embassies of the US, United Kingdom and Australia issued yesterday urgent warnings to their citizens to exercise a heightened degree of caution while in the Philippines following the shooting incident at Resorts World Manila.

The US embassy in Manila issued an emergency message for its citizens, urging them “to exercise caution and review your personal security plans, remain aware of your surroundings, including local events.”

“Heed any instructions given by local authorities,” the embassy told its nationals. 

The UK, through its Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), also urged its citizens “to avoid the area and follow the advice of local authorities.”  

The Australian government asked their citizens to “exercise heightened caution. Be vigilant about your surroundings. Monitor the media for information that may impact on your security.”

In their respective Twitter accounts, the ambassadors of the three countries also expressed their condolences to the families of those who were killed.

“We offer our deepest condolences to families and friends of the victims of the Resorts World incident,” US Ambassador Sung Kim said.

“My condolences to relatives and friends of the victims,” said British Ambassador Asif Ahmad.

“We urge all British nationals in the Philippines or with plans to visit, to contact relatives and friends to let them know they are OK,” Ahmad said. 

He said UK’s consular team is cooperating closely with Philippine authorities to determine if any Britons have been affected.

Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely said Australia’s latest travel warning was a “very sad outcome to the Resorts World incident.” 

Gorely said Australia continues to support the Philippines in fighting terrorism, particularly in the area of intelligence. 

DOF chief: No long-term effect on business

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that while the incident in Resorts World Manila might have a slight impact on the country’s tourism industry, it would not have any long-term effect on business and the economy.

“We don’t think it will affect business as much or investment. Maybe there will be some questions about tourism coming in. Maybe we’ll have a little dip,” Dominguez said.

The finance chief also advised business establishments to tighten their security to prevent such disturbances.

Better measures needed

The business community also called for better measures to prevent the repeat of the incident in Resorts World Manila.

“The violence and tragedy this morning in one of our hotel-casinos must serve as a wake-up call to all sectors that we live in challenging times that tend to make more difficult our journey towards inclusive and sustainable growth,” Makati Business Club executive director Peter Perfecto said.

“In the same way that we have become more resilient to natural calamities through better preparedness, so too must we develop more effective and more urgent response systems, mechanisms and protocols to man-made disasters,” he added.

According to Perfecto, building confidence in the country’s crisis response systems must become a shared urgent priority.

“Government, private sector and media must develop a better way to respond to the next crisis so that we can save more lives and assure our people and our visitors and investors that, while we can never ensure that things like this will never happen again, violent individuals and groups will be more aggressively dealt with and quickly restrained, if not neutralized altogether,” he said.

Business leaders also admitted that the attack is a cause for concern, especially to the country’s tourism industry.

“Just like in any big cities all over the world, this can happen. This will initially unnerve business but bottom line, however, it will not deter our growth prospects,” Management Association of the Philippine chair for national issues committee Perry Pe said.

“All bad publicity is not good for tourism, but this tragedy will probably not have serious impact since most tourists have good experiences. That needs to be maintained,” American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines senior advisor John Forbes said separately.

But for Perfecto, it is unfortunate that with tourism serving as a key driver of the Philippine economy, the country finds itself again “feeling helpless and unprepared to efficiently provide assistance to visitors, with accurate information being the immediate casualty.” – With Helen Flores, Richmond Mercurio