ACTING Labor and Immigration Secretary Jack Tenorio urges CNMI businesses to help provide evidence regarding bribery and extortion involving labor and immigration officers.
Tenorio, the guest speaker during yesterday’s general membership meeting of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said these are some of the problems at the Department of Labor and Immigration that need to be resolved.
He admitted that it is hard to change peoples’ perception of DOLI, but he said he will try his best to do something about it.
“I’ve heard comments about (DOLI) officers being bribed and taking money under the table. The people saying these know a lot of things, know that these things are happening and we need to do something about it,” Tenorio said.
But he admitted that it would be “difficult” to address these problems.
“Can we do something, can we call people (who know about this?) Maybe he’s one of your staff, relative or a good friend of yours,” he added.
In an interview after the meeting, Tenorio said despite all these problems at DOLI, he is “not giving up.”
“I’m will remain as acting secretary because I promised the governor I will try to see if I can help,” he added.
During the meeting, Tenorio also tackled the issues on illegal alien workers, temporary work authorizations and the extension of federal immigration and minimum wage laws to the CNMI.
“When the government had a (limited) immunity program a few years back, there were about 5,000 individuals who came forward. Can you imagine how many of them are there now?” he said.
Tenorio said the current number of registered workers is 35,300 and most are from the Philippines and China.
He said there are only about 4,000 to 5,000 resident workers.
