By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff
& Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

THE Fitial administration accuses the federal labor ombudsman of making “biased and unsubstantiated” reports to the U.S. Congress regarding to the islands’ labor situation.
But Federal Labor Ombudsman Jim Benedetto says people can judge his report for themselves.
He said he also believes that the administration should have appropriate input into reports from the Federal Labor Ombudsman’s Office to the U.S. Congress.
“Various officials from the Babauta administration and then-new Fitial administration were consulted in preparing the 2006 report,” said Benedetto in a statement.
He added, “I have sought information about the CNMI’s response to labor, immigration and law enforcement issues from the attorney general and the secretary of (the CNMI Department of) Labor, among others, in preparing my 2007 update, and have received several helpful responses. Any information provided on these issues will certainly be considered for inclusion in my reports.”
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial wrote U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary David Cohen on May 9 to raise concern about a Saipan Tribune article that mistakenly identified Benedetto’s report as having been prepared in March 2007.
The report was prepared in March 2006, sent to the U.S. Congress in June 2006 and was first made available to CNMI officials in Jan. 2007.
“Rather than focus on recent performance by the commonwealth with respect to labor and immigration laws, (Benedetto) continues to rely on a 1998 indictment of the commonwealth and suggests that little progress has been made by the CNMI,” wrote Fitial to Cohen.
“Mr. Benedetto’s biased and unsubstantiated reports are not only unfair but are very damaging to our current efforts to attract new investors to the commonwealth,” he added.
Fitial said the report was “full of unsupported innuendo suggesting widespread incompetence and corruption among CNMI officials.”
The governor asked Cohen to give the administration a chance to review first future reports by the federal ombudsman to the U.S. Congress about the CNMI so that its comments can be included.
In response, Benedetto said his report is available online (http://www.doi.gov/oia/reports/ombudsmanreports.html) and as “fair-minded readers will see, I have included much positive information about the CNMI’s accomplishments, including agreements…to pre-screen most Chinese workers coming to the CNMI, the establishment of a refugee protection program to comply with International treaties, the adoption of revised alien labor regulations to protect workers’ rights, a reduced number of complaints filed, and the establishment of the CNMI’s state-of-the-art LIIDS and BMS border control mechanisms, among others.”
Benedetto said “the timely responses to case referrals about human trafficking, illegal factory operations, recruiting scams, non-payment of wages, and other violations, can and will be included in my report as positive evidence of the government’s commitment to combating such abuses.”
He added, “It is far preferable to report that a problem has been identified and that appropriate action is being taken, than to play ‘gotcha’ over problems that remain unresolved.”
He said he will have “much positive information to convey in my upcoming report, which should be completed in the next month.”
A summary of Benedetto’s 2006 report stated that CNMI labor conditions have improved significantly since the late 1990s when the ombudsman’s office was created.
“The number of complaints filed annually has been reduced to its current level of less than 500. In addition, the nature of those complaints is more mundane, on average, than it was eight years ago,” the report said.
However, despite improvements, according to the report, “complaints of illegal recruitment scams and non-payment of wages are still prevalent,” and there is still a lot of room for improvement in enforcement by the CNMI Department of Labor.