By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

ASC Inc., doing business as the Nagoya Star Night Club, has paid five dancers and one waitress a total of $4,345.09 in back wages and for their last payroll ending April 17.
Nagoya’s last day of operations was April 17, which was earlier than the original plan of April 29.
The payments were made after Variety ran reports about Nagoya’s pending closure and the non-payment of employees’ wages since February, as well as the ladies’ drink commissions promised to them.
“Yes we received our back wages and last payroll but not the ladies’ drink commissions,” one of the employees confirmed yesterday.
The workers said they were given 30 days to look for a transfer job.
On April 17, Nagoya Star manager Angelina Cabrera paid the employees a total of $3,473.86 in back wages covering Feb. 7, 2007 to April 3, 2007.
The workers were paid from $502.22 to $749.85 each in back wages.
The payments were witnessed by Department of Labor investigators Marvin Deleon Guerrero and John I. Tagabuel.
On April 23, Cabrera paid the six employees their last paycheck covering April 4 to 17 totaling $871.23, witnessed again by Deleon Guerrero, Tagabuel and Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office caseworker/translator Glen Anthony Buultjens.
For their last payroll, the employees received from $135.26 to $148.58 each.
The dancers were not able to get their ladies’ drink commissions because they were told that it was not specified in their employment contract and it was only a verbal agreement. The ladies’ drink commissions were promised to them when they were hired and they received these up until a few months ago.
Former Judge Timothy P. Bellas, counsel for Nagoya manager Angelina Cabrera, said when his client made the decision to close its doors “because of the worsening economic conditions on Saipan, she did what is required under the law,” by informing employees of the decision to terminate business operations through a March 27 memo.
“Next, in order to keep the employees apprised of the situation, she wrote them a memorandum…and advised them as pointed out in the original (Variety) articles on April 9th and 10th that all of the debts to the employees would be paid and the management would support any request for a transfer or they would repatriate any employee who wished to return to the Philippines,” said Bellas in a letter to the media sent yesterday.
Bellas said “apparently, the employees became fearful that because Ms. Cabrera went off island, she was not going to honor the employer’s pledge to pay all back wages due to them.”
The Nagoya Star workers earlier expressed fear that if they filed a labor complaint against their employer, the case might be dismissed or the investigation would result in a favorable outcome for the owners and management because, they said, ranking Department of Labor officials frequented the night club and were “close” to the club management.
Bellas said the mere fact the employees of Labor had visited Nagoya Star in the company of their friends and that they paid for their drinks and did not receive any other consideration because they were Labor officials does not make them “close” to the management of Nagoya Star.
Bellas said Cabrera met the Labor officials when she went to Labor as a customer and she requested assistance. “As employees of Labor, they explained legal procedures and other illegal requirements to her for the processing of labor contracts. These are services which Labor offers to all of its customers not just the ones they are close to,” he said.
He said Cabrera reported these facts to other CNMI officials who have recently interviewed her in connection with an investigation of this matter.