Malacañang on Sunday, June 4, reassured the public that the attack that happened at Resorts World Manila was not a terrorist act.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella made the assurance while announcing in a radio interview that authorities have already identified the suspect of the deadly incident last Friday.

Abella said the police identified the gunman as Jessie Carlos, who was from San Lazaro, Manila.

Abella said according to Carlos’ wife, the suspect was “addicted to gambling”.

“So we just like to say that we like to put the worries of the general public to rest para hindi po sila mabahala kaya po minadaling mailabas ito para hindi na po naliligalig ang mga tao na that this could be some form of terrorist attack, hindi po,” Abella said over government-run Radyo ng Bayan, reiterating that Carlos was merely “emotionally disturbed.”

Meanwhile, Abella gave the latest update on the situation in Marawi City noting there have been 20 civilians killed by the local terrorist group while authorities have rescued 1,271 civilians.

He said the number of enemies killed remains at 120 as the Palace is still awaiting for consolidated reports.

He added that the military has recovered 98 firearms.

“Government casualties those killed in action, 38; wounded in action, we’re still awaiting for consolidated reports,” he said.

Abella noted that the current focus of operations remains to be the clearing of Marawi of militants who are still in the area; the continued rescue of trapped residents in Marawi; the continued recovery of civilian casualties and victims; and assistance to relief operations.

On another issue, Abella conveyed the Philippine government’s condolences to the victims of the latest incident in London.

“We’d like to say that our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and the families of the very sad events in London. Acts such as these touched not only the people of London, they also touched all peace-loving people in the global community,” he said.###PND