THE House Committee on Gaming, which Rep. Edwin Propst chairs is now duly organized.
In a memorandum, Propst provided Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez with the list of the committee members: Rep. Tina Sablan, vice chairwoman; Rep. Ivan Blanco, Rep. Celina Babauta, Rep. Richard Lizama, Rep. Vicente Camacho and House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul.
Blanco is the lone minority bloc member of the committee.
Propst said the committee members have been “dealing with pressing issues” relating to the Commonwealth gaming industry.
Two days ago, the committee members along with the speaker went to Imperial Pacific International’s different staff houses in Garapan, Sadog Tasi and Chalan Laulau to provide IPI’s foreign workers with food, drinking water and other grocery items.
The workers had not received their salaries, and Propst said he and the other lawmakers witnessed the workers’ “dire condition.”
In an interview on Thursday, Propst said even during the previous Legislature, he and other lawmakers consistently helped IPI’s foreign and local workers who had not been receiving their salaries.
“We have consistently met with all workers of IPI, including local workers. We met with them as many [times] as we possibly could. We talked to them over the phone, we tried to help them with job placement, in getting food and improving their living conditions. That has not changed, whether we were with the minority or majority,” Propst said.
He said local workers called him Thursday afternoon to inform him that they would get paid soon as ordered by the federal court.
Propst reiterated that he and the rest of the 22nd House leadership are also providing assistance to IPI’s local workers who have lost their jobs.
He pointed out that foreign workers have no family to turn to if they have no food to eat. Moreover, foreign workers were also not eligible for federal assistance such as the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Nutrition Assistance Program.
“That is something we need to be clear about,” Propst said.
