The 10 other workers, he said, have resigned after a meeting with the hotel management and Rota Mayor Melchor A. Mendiola last month.
The meeting discussed a settlement for the unpaid wages of the workers, Kishimoto said.
Arthur Alpino, the hotel accountant who represented the workers during the meeting, told the management about the decision of the workers to resign, Kishimoto added.
After the meeting, some of the workers approached management and expressed their intention to continue to work, he said.
However, he added, management already accepted their resignations.
“I am sorry for the employment of those workers. We can no longer rehire them,” he said.
One of the hotel workers, who refused to be identified, said management is planning to reopen on Sept. 15.
New employees will be hired even though the salaries of the former workers remain unpaid, the worker said.
Kishimoto said the hotel is still open but is not accepting any reservations “because we are not in normal operation.”
“We are temporarily closed but our operation will be back to normal only if we have chartered flights,” he said.
If there’s a charter flight, the hotel will get temporary workers, he added.
He said management has been paying its former workers in installments.
Masahiro Watanabe, president of Rota Treasure Island Corp., the casino that operates at the Rota Hotel, is off-island to get funds for the payroll, Variety was told.
The hotel’s remaining three workers are getting paid on time, Kishimoto said.
On Sept. 1, he said they were supposed to reopen the casino but management failed to meet with the Rota casino gaming commissioners.
The casino has been “temporarily closed” since March 25 after the expected “big players” from Japan cancelled the charter flights following the earthquake and tsunami that hit their nation.
Kishimoto said they have renewed their casino business permit and is complying with the other requirements of the gaming commission.
