By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

VICE Speaker Justo S. Quitugua says he will oppose the Retirement Fund’s proposal to reduce the pension of government retirees who are not fully vested in the system.
Quitugua, D-Saipan, said it is not fair to penalize retirees for the cash-strapped government’s failure to fund their retirement.
“The retirees should continue to receive their full pension as if the government had remitted the contributions in full,” he said.
He expressed hope that his fellow lawmakers will support his position.
Quitugua has prefiled House Bill 15-231 which seeks to prohibit the Retirement Fund from paying less than the full pension entitled to the retirees.
“The bill that I have prefiled prevents retirees from being penalized for the failure of the executive branch to remit the employer contribution to the Fund. That’s primarily the intent of the bill,” said Quitugua in an interview.
He said he has learned that the Fund’s board of trustees is planning to give future retirees only what they contributed to the local pension system due to the agency’s financial crunch.
The Fund’s total assets of nearly $500 million is not enough to cover the pensions of future retirees because many of them were vested in the system without adequate funding.