Ralph Demapan
THE Commonwealth Casino Commission is disputing the Office of the Attorney General’s instruction to the Department of Finance not to remit the $250,000 that the revised fiscal year 2025 budget appropriated for the commissioners’ back pay.
The budget or Public Law 24-1 was signed by Gov. Arnold I. Palacios last month.
CCC Chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, Vice Chair Rafael S. Demapan, Commissioner Mario Taitano, along with former Commissioners Ramon S. Dela Cruz of Tinian and Martin Mendiola of Rota, were supposed to receive $44,583.34 each, while Commissioner Thomas A. Manglona of Rota, who assumed office in October 2024, would receive $27,083.30.
But Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita, in a letter to Demapan, said “payment cannot be made as instructed by the Attorney General, as the funding provided by P.L. 24-1 is ‘contrary to the law and cannot be allocated or processed [by Department of Finance].’ ”
In his response, Demapan said the “reasoning” of the Office of the AG is “flawed and incorrect.”
He said the OAG cited only a portion of a provision of the law as the basis for not remitting the funds to CCC.
Norita quoted the OAG as stating that, according to the law, “members of the Commission are not employees of the Commonwealth government. Payment of public funds to non-Commonwealth employees cannot be considered a public purpose.”
But Demapan said the correct and complete language of the law states: “members of the Commonwealth Casino Commission are not employees of the Commonwealth but [they] shall be indemnified and defended as if they were employees of the Commonwealth.”
Demapan said that “indemnify means to pay or promise to pay someone for damage or loss, which includes services already rendered by the Commission members.”
Noting that the Legislature appropriated $250,000 for the commissioners’ backpay, Demapan said the laws that legalized casino gaming on Saipan are local laws and the cost of implementing and enforcing them “ultimately remains a local government obligation as promised in the indemnification and due process protection clause.”
He told Norita that CCC “respectfully requests your reconsideration on this matter and [to] issue payments to the CCC board members as requested in my Feb. 18, 2025 letter.”
He said P.L. 24-1’s $250,000 appropriation for the commissioners’ backpay is legal, is in the best public interest, and is in compliance with the CNMI Constitution and laws.
When asked if the OAG reviewed the allocation for the commissioners before he signed the budget bill into law, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios told reporters last week: “No. To be honest with you, no. The AG was off-island at the time and, as you know, there was a last-minute inclusion in our proposal. It was not in the executive branch’s proposal. It was the Legislature that inserted that. I had [a] discussion with Senate members and [the] House. I said, ‘OK. I will just go ahead and sign this.’ My instruction to [Norita] informally, [was] ‘you are going to put this in the last priority of things. Even if it became law, and even if I vetoed it.’ I’m glad that the AG came out and clarified its position.”
