TO our retirees and their families:
We see you, we hear you, and we understand the fear, frustration, and uncertainty many of you are feeling.
The 25% supplemental pension benefit is not just a budget item. For many retirees, it helps pay for food, medicine, utilities, transportation, rent, family obligations, and the basic cost of living in the CNMI. When the government threatens to stop that payment, it creates fear in the homes of the very people who dedicated their lives to serving our Commonwealth.
That is unacceptable and our retirees deserve better!
Our retirees should never have to question whether their government will keep its promise. They deserve certainty, respect, and honest leadership, not political games, election-year strategies, or last-minute confusion over benefits they have earned.
That is why we are deeply concerned by the recent warning that the 25% benefit may stop after July. Sen. Jude Hofschneider, chair of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, publicly stated that financial information from the Department of Finance indicates there may be sufficient funding to continue the benefit through the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026. He noted that approximately $11.9 million is needed and roughly $15.7 million in available resources has been identified.
If the funding is there, why are retirees being told their payments may stop? Why is fear being placed on their backs? Why are the administration and current legislative leadership not being clear with the people?
Let us be clear: we support funding our retirees. We support continuing the 25% benefit. We support every honest effort to protect the retirement benefits our retirees have earned. But retirees should not be frightened first and rescued later for political credit. That is not leadership.
Ralph: “During my time as governor, I made retirees a priority. They were never an afterthought to me. Even through Super Typhoon Yutu, the Covid-19 pandemic, and some of the most difficult financial challenges the CNMI has faced, I worked to keep retiree payments moving. When additional funding became available, my administration provided retiree bonuses because I believed then, as I believe now, that retirees deserve to share in the Commonwealth’s recovery.”
Ben: “I share that same commitment. Government has a responsibility to honor those who served, not use them as a political talking point or leave them in uncertainty. Our retirees kept their promise to the CNMI. Now the CNMI must keep its promise to them.”
Together, our promise is simple: if given the honor to serve, we will prioritize retirees. We will protect their benefits, demand transparency, plan ahead, and treat retirees as a responsibility, a promise, and a moral obligation.
The current administration and House leadership must answer a simple question: What are they going to do differently tomorrow that they cannot do today? If funding is available, release the numbers and fund retirees now. If funding is not available, be honest with the people and explain the discrepancy. If the concern is Fiscal Year 2027, then present a serious plan now.
Retirees cannot live on press releases, political speeches, or excuses. They need action, certainty, and a government that plans ahead.
But simply finding money from one year to the next is not enough. The CNMI cannot continue moving from one emergency appropriation to another. Government must grow the economy, generate new revenue, and meet its obligations without recurring crises.
Our goal is not only to ensure retirees are paid. Our goal is to rebuild and revitalize the CNMI economy so government can meet its responsibilities with confidence and, when revenues allow, provide retirees with bonuses again. Those bonuses are well deserved.
Our retirees helped build this Commonwealth. They educated our children, protected our communities, cared for our families, and kept government running. When the CNMI recovers, they should share in that recovery.
That is the leadership we believe in. We have a plan to revive the economy, attract responsible investment, restore confidence in the CNMI, strengthen tourism, support small businesses, create jobs, reduce CUC utility rates, and lower the cost of living. A stronger economy means a stronger government, and a stronger government can better support retirees, families, public services, and future generations.
The question for this administration and House leadership remains: What are you doing today to generate additional revenue for retirees and the people of the CNMI?
This issue is bigger than one payment cycle. It is about whether government respects the people who served before us, whether leaders are being honest with retirees, and whether we are serious about reviving the economy so we can stop living from crisis to crisis.
We call on the administration, the Department of Finance, and legislative leaders to immediately provide a full and transparent accounting of all funds available for the 25% retiree benefit for Fiscal Year 2026 and to present a clear plan for Fiscal Year 2027.
To our retirees: you deserve better than this uncertainty. You deserve leaders who will stand with you every day, not just during election season.
We will fight for certainty. We will fight for transparency. We will fight to ensure retirees receive what they are owed.
And we will fight to rebuild our economy so retirees can once again share in the Commonwealth’s success.
Our retirees served the CNMI with dignity. Now it is time for the CNMI to serve them with that same dignity, respect, and commitment.
“Para todu i setbisiun miyu gi ma’pus siha na tiempu, bai en na siguru na proteksion para i pagamentun miyu, gaigi giya hululu’.”
Ralph DLG Torres is a candidate for governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Benjamin M. Jones Jr. is a candidate for lieutenant governor.
