In the line of duty

We all knew that the tragedy in the Manila Pavilion happened on Sunday morning. But the morning after, being a Monday, we had the daily flag ceremony where we commit ourselves to our duties in Pagcor. After the ceremony, singing the National Anthem, the Pagcorian theme song and repeating our commitment to each other as family, Chairman Andrea Domingo  gave a few words of encouragement for the hard tasks we face.

That morning was different. Words failed to contain what each of us thought on what happened to our co-workers the day before. The chairman tried to hold her tears but she failed. The tears rolled down as she asked all of  us to pray for the dead and the condolences for their families. But as the saying goes “the show must go on” and we had to emulate our comrades who died in the line of duty.

We won’t see it printed in newspapers or told in radio but there were inside stories of how the Pagcorians died in the line of duty. It will forever be etched in my mind as the stories were told. The fire was not yet full blown but the two men assigned to surveillance immediately thought of their comrade who had a stroke that needed help because he would not be able to run as fast as they could. So they pushed him to safety and returned to their job to seal the safe and make sure every centavo earned the previous day would be intact. Telling the story was the stroke victim who was saved. The two men from surveillance stayed on duty to the last but in minutes they were engulfed in smoke and would not be able to save themselves. They died to save a comrade and remained faithful to their duty. Chairman Domingo and the board of directors went from wake to wake assuring their families they would be helped. The victims were examples not only to all of us at Pagcor but to every human endeavor we undertake on how to die in the line of duty.

I thought the best metaphor for the Pagcorians who died in the line of duty comes from Paul Coelho. 

Who said life is like a dream? Life is like a game, a game of chance. It is not necessary to participate in any way; the truth is that you can sit and observe how everyone else has fun, or you can do it yourself. It is your decision.

“Life is a fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump; it is taking chances, falling and getting up again; it’s mountaineering; it is wanting to get to the very top of yourself and feeling angry and dissatisfied when you don’t manage it.”?– Paulo Coelho

It was further articulated in an article befitting the Pagcor heroes.

“The bell that signals the end of recess will ring at any moment and we will begin to contemplate the fact that all we are left with is the desire to do something, to give kisses that we never promised, to be alone and not say anything…We are left with “desires to do much” and in the end we can only “remember the desires.”

The truth is that you and I have our cards and all that is left to do is want to play them. We are going to have good cards and bad cards; the quantity doesn’t matter, but the good it does us to play them does. While the game progresses we will get more cards; they can improve or worsen our game, but they will never stop coming to us at every chance.

In this sense, there is no option to quit. Maybe you are suffocating a little, living between cards, above all when you don’t quite grasp the dynamics of the game; but you have options before you. In reality it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about playing. 

MISCELLANY: If The Philippines will be the next big thing in Asian gaming, it is because of the men and women who think this way. 

From Zinnia de la Peña of the Philippine STAR she writes on the first ASEAN summit of gaming and entertainment held in Macau last year. 

“The Philippines is seen to be the next big thing in Asian gaming given its robust growth prospects and the surge in Chinese tourist arrivals,” a top gaming industry analyst said.

During the annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia convention, Union Gaming managing director Grant Govertson said while Singapore,  South Korea  and Vietnam are all playing their cards right, the Philippines could turn out to be the ace in the pack given its growth story.

“I think the Philippines is probably one that comes to mind first simply because we are seeing a decent amount of growth in inbound Chinese volumes, but the real exciting part there is the local story, the local economy is doing so well, gross gaming revenues are getting better and better and it’s not entirely dependent on the Chinese, so that’s interesting,” Govertson said.

Govertson said  the Philippines enjoys a wide mix of nationalities that play in its casinos.

The Philippines is vying with Macau and Singapore to become Asia’s top gaming  destination  with the opening of the Pagcor Entertainment City, Manila’s version of a Las-Vegas like gaming strip along Manila Bay.

The Philippines presents an attractive alternative for the wealthy Chinese gamblers. Improving bilateral relations between China and the Philippines along with President Duterte’s efforts to ramp up infrastructure spending will increase the number of Chinese visitors.

The government has committed to spend about $8 trillion to ramp up spending on roads, airports, seaports and railways to attract more  investors and generate jobs.

Praveen Choudhary, managing director at Morgan Stanley, also thinks the  Philippines may be the next best bet for investors looking to put their money into casinos.

“I do agree the Philippines looks like the market to watch out for. I think the gambling appetite in Asia is still humongous, as long as you can build a casino, integrated resort and offer good food and entertainment.  I think you can keep getting more and more out of it. I will not be surprised if I hear more success in the future,” Choudhary said.

Choudhary noted Philippine casinos do not rely too heavily on China’s VIP market.

Philippine casinos posted more than 100 percent growth in VIP revenues  from high-rollers last year as it benefited from the Chinese government’s crackdown on corruption in Macau.

Nationwide casino gross gaming revenue grew 20 percent in the nine months ending September last year to P99.77 billion.