THE Office of the Attorney General has instructed the Department of Finance not to remit the back pay of Commonwealth Casino Commission members as it is against the law, Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita said.
In her letter to CCC acting Chair Ralph S. Demapan on Friday, Norita said “payment cannot be made as instructed by the Attorney General, as the funding provided by P[ublic] L[aw] 24-1 is ‘contrary to the law and cannot be allocated or processed [by the Department of Finance].’ ”
She was responding to Demapan’s Feb. 18, 2025, letter requesting that Finance issue $250,000 in back pay to the casino commissioners for “services already rendered.”
Under Public Law 24-1, or the revised fiscal year 2025 budget, Commission Chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, Vice Chair Rafael S. Demapan, Commissioner Mario Taitano, and former Commissioners Ramon S. Dela Cruz of Tinian and Martin Mendiola of Rota stand to receive $44,583.34 each, while Rota’s Thomas A. Manglona, who assumed his post in October 2024, will receive $27,083.30.
In her letter, the Finance secretary cited the Office of the AG’s reasons for the suspension of the commissioners’ back pay:
1) The law provides that “members of the Commission are not employees of the Commission or the Commonwealth government.” Payment of public funds to non-Commonwealth employees cannot be considered a public purpose.
2) Public Law 24-1, Schedule A amends personnel funding to the CCC to zero, thus any funding under this personnel account violates the CNMI Constitution, Article X, Sections 1 and 7.
3) The purpose of creating the regulatory fee and the CCC Regulatory Fee Fund was to allocate money from the regulatory fee to pay the commissioners so that the Commonwealth people would not be burdened by such expense.
The OAG also stated that “placing the burden on the Commonwealth people to pay the salaries of non-Commonwealth employees lacks a public purpose and thus a violation of the Commonwealth Constitution and laws.”
Norita said Finance “will not make payment to the CCC until such time a lawful source of funds is identified, or funds become available from the CCC Regulatory Fund.”
Variety was unable to obtain a comment from any of the casino commissioners.
Public Law 18-56, which legalized casino gaming on Saipan, allows the commissioners to receive compensation from the annual regulatory fee collected from the lone license holder, the Imperial Pacific International. For nearly five years, however, IPI has failed to meet its obligations to the government and is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in federal court.
