By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

FORMER Department of Labor administrator Linda San Nicolas’s trial setting has been rescheduled for March 27.
The reason for the postponement of the proceedings in the courtroom of Judge Arthur Barcinas was not stated on record.
San Nicolas, 49, was previously assigned at the Department of Labor’s Alien Labor Processing and Certification Division.
She was indicted by a Superior Court grand jury on July 5, 2006.
San Nicolas, a resident of Barrigada, was charged with theft of property as a second-degree felony with a special allegation of crime against the community, issuance of dishonored checks as a third-degree felony, misapplications of entrusted funds, and official misconduct as misdemeanors after pocketing $7,000 cash intended for seven Filipino workers.
Byong H. Kwang, president of Guam Construction Company, gave the money to San Nicolas as part of a settlement agreement with seven H2 workers who reportedly ran away.
For almost two months, San Nicolas had been the subject of an investigation by the Guam Police Department after Guam Construction Company filed a complaint about its failure to retrieve the money from the former Labor official.
Guam Construction Co. counsel David Lujan earlier said San Nicolas met with Kang and other Labor officials on Feb. 1, 2006 to discuss the situation of the seven runaway workers.
After San Nicolas informed him that the workers were willing to return to the Philippines provided they were given cash and airfares, Kang gave the administrator the $7,000 for safekeeping.
On April 4, 2006, the workers’ lawyer, Robert Davis, wrote a letter to Labor Director Maria Connelly, informing her that the workers got their passports and were waiting for the release of their airline tickets and checks.
Two days after Kang visited Connelly, he requested for the return of the $7,000.
On April 12, 2006, San Nicolas executed a promissory note to pay the $7,000.
Based on court documents, San Nicolas issued a check in the amount of $7,000 on May 8. Kang, however, was not able to get it because the account was closed at the time San Nicolas issued the check.
On June 14, 2006, San Nicolas was invited by police investigators for questioning, and was handcuffed and turned over to the Hagatna detention facility pending the filing of a magistrate complaint.