THE Rota Legislative Delegation is looking into the expenses of the Rota Casino Gaming Commission, which claimed to have spent an “unapproved budget” to conduct an investigation into a casino investor, the IH Group.
In his letter to RCGC Chairwoman Viola Hocog-Atalig on Wednesday, the Rota Legislative Delegation chairman, Senate Vice President Donald Manglona, said the delegation is still waiting for RCGC’s expenditure report on the investigation it conducted in South Korea in 2019.
He said the Rota delegation “trusts that the requested report will be provided sooner than later.”
“The RLD must ensure that the law is followed, that the RLD has the final decision on the RCGC’s budget, and that the RCGC expenditures are limited under an approved budget,” Manglona said.
During a previous delegation session, Hocog-Atalig told the Rota delegation that they received $150,000 from a casino investor. The amount, she said, was separate from the $150,000 that the casino investor paid for a conditional license and $5,000 for an internet gaming license.
Hocog-Atalig said they used the money for travel to South Korea where they “investigated the casino investor … to see for ourselves that their office was legitimate.”
When asked when the $150,000 was fully expended, Hocog-Atalig said, “By the end of 2019, right before the pandemic.”
On Dec. 10, 2024, Hocog-Atalig wrote Manglona a letter, saying that the RCGC was urging Gov. Arnold I. Palacios to veto H.L.B. 23-61.
She said the local bill “intrudes upon the Commission’s independent authority, raising concerns about potential micromanagement and encroachment on its essential duties.”
She reminded Manglona that the role of the delegation is to approve funding requests, “not to assume control over the Commission’s operational decisions.”
Incorrect
In his response to Hocog-Atalig, Manglona said “it is incorrect” for the RCGC to claim that House Local Bill 23-61 “grants veto power to the Rota Municipal treasurer over the RCGC on how to allocate and utilize its funds.”
H.L.B. 23-61, which the Rota delegation passed on Dec. 6, 2024, would appropriate $155,000 in casino license fee collection for RCGC’s personnel salaries, operations, and legal counsel.
Manglona said although the RCGC is the expenditure authority of the appropriated funds, the municipal treasurer “is the custodian of the funds to ensure that the expenditure authority spends the funds according to an approved appropriation.”
As for Hocog-Atalig’s claim that the Rota delegation’s role is “to approve funding requests, not to assume control over the Commission’s operational decisions,” Manglona, said, “This is not the Rota delegation’s role.”
He cited 10 CMC § 12103(a), which provides that: “All license fees and gambling revenue taxes derived under this chapter shall be local revenues to be expended for local public purposes, as specified herein. The Mayor of Rota shall submit a budget for consideration and approval of the Rota Municipal Council, which shall thereafter transmit said budget with any amendments to the Rota Legislative Delegation for consideration, amendment and enactment pursuant to the Local Law Act of 1983.”
Manglona said the Rota mayor prepares the budget for the RCGC operations, submits it to the Rota Municipal Council for approval, and subsequently transmits it to the Rota delegation for final consideration.
