“This is outrageous — incurring more legal fees in these economic conditions we’re facing,” the chairwoman of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee added.
“They want to fight everyone in court.”
Pangelinan, D-Saipan, said she was drafting a letter to the Retirement Fund, requesting for copies of the agency’s contracts with the three lawyers it wanted to hire.
The lawyers are supposed to help the Fund collect $1.9 million in employer contributions from autonomous agencies.
Pangelinan noted that the contributions owed by some of these agencies are less than the expected legal fees.
“These are unnecessary expenditures of taxpayer money — it just doesn’t make sense,” she said. “The [Retirement Fund] always wants to get into a fight — they don’t care anymore about arriving at a best solution now that we’re all facing these fiscal challenges. It’s just not the right approach.”
The Retirement Fund, she said, should be aware of the CNMI government’s financial problems.
“And these are autonomous agencies — all you need to do is to talk with them and arrange a payment plan,” she said.
“Who are they supporting?” she asked, referring to the Retirement Fund’s trustees. “Are they supporting the rights of vested interest employees who are not allowed to retire?”
The Retirement Fund does not allow employees from delinquent agencies to retire and has successfully sued the central government for its failure to remit over $200 million in employer contributions. The government also owes the Fund over $500 million in unfunded benefits.
The Superior Court is now determining a payment scheme that the government must follow.
