“Are we in?” was the persistent question of the lawyers to Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo.
Govendo said he will decide on the matter on Dec. 28.
Attorneys Robert T. Torres of CPA, Vicente Salas of CDA and NMHC, and Joshua Berger of CUC said these agencies should not bear the burden of the newly effective employer contribution rate of 60.8686 percent when the CNMI government is not paying its share.
Govendo ruled in 2009 in favor of the Fund, which sued the government, and awarded the pension agency $231 million. The Fund has yet to collect this judgment from the central government and the amount is now over $300 million.
Torres argued, “CPA is being affected when as a contributing agency it has fully contributed its amount due — 100 percent.”
He added, “CPA should not be the one to bear the burden of the central government as a result of its not paying” the Fund.
“We are all part of the same pie and everyone has contributed their fair share. Only those who have not contributed their fair share should be sued and dealt with the judgment,” he said.
What if the Fund fails, he asked; what would happen to the monthly remittances of CPA?
Berger, for his part, said: “We are being penalized because the central government is not paying” the Fund.
Torres told Govendo: “We want you to enforce the order. That is what the Retirement Fund is asking. But they [the central government] are not following the order.”
He said CUC will be forced to pass on the additional cost to ratepayers.
CPA will pass on the additional cost to the airlines and ultimately to the traveling public, he added.
Fund legal counsel Viola Alepuyo said the Fund is not opposed to the agencies coming in to intervene in the case.
“The Retirement Fund is also saddled with the responsibility of paying 61 percent employer contribution rate,” she added.
Assistant Attorney General Michael Stanker, who represented the central government, denied that the government had paid nothing, but added, “it may not be 100 percent.”
