BY a vote of 12 to 7, the House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted House Resolution 21-37 to strongly oppose a pay raise that the federal court has already approved for Settlement Fund Trustee Joyce C. Tang.
The members of the 21st House of Representatives hold a session on Dec. 15, Tuesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
Prior to the roll call vote, Rep. Ivan Blanco offered a floor amendment to include requesting the Settlement Fund trustee to provide the Legislature an actuarial report and comply with Governmental and Accounting Standards Board statement No. 68 and statement No. 71 on Accounting and Financial Reporting for pensions.
For her part, House Minority Leader Tina Sablan reminded her colleagues that the Settlement Fund trustee is answerable only to the federal court and that the CNMI Legislature has no authority over the trustee.
Those who voted against the non-binding resolution were Sablan and the rest of the minority bloc: Reps. Franklin Babauta, Sheila Babauta, Richard Lizama, Donald Manglona, and Edmund Villagomez. Joining them was Republican Rep. Ralph N. Yumul.
Those who voted yes were Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Vice Speaker Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero, House Floor Leader John Paul Sablan, Reps. Ivan Blanco, Joel Camacho, Roman Benavente, Joseph Flores, Jose Itibus, Janet Maratita, Luis John Castro, Marco Peter and Antonio Borja.
Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, the author of the resolution, was excused.
H.R. 21-37 states that Tang’s salary increase approved by District Court for the NMI Designated Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood “[is] highly unfeasible at the present time.”
The judge approved a rate increase for Tang to $350 per hour from $250 per hour.
House Minority Leader Tina Sablan echoed the letter of Settlement Fund Administrator Lillian Pangelinan who expressed concern about the “misleading and inaccurate allegations” in H.R. 21-37. (See https://www.nmisf.com/2020/9-24-2020-ltr-to-rep-guerrero-re-hr-21-37)
Most troubling, the House minority leader said, is the resolution’s call for increasing the Settlement Fund’s obligation to 80% payment of the retirees’ pension while decreasing the CNMI government’s obligation to 20%.
Quoting Pangelinan’s letter, Sablan said this is a “reckless and dangerous suggestion and directly harmful to the retirees.”
Sablan also reminded the other House members that when Tang was appointed by the federal court in 2013, the Fund was expected to run out of money by year 2019.
The fact that the Settlement Fund has not gone broke, and it is in a stronger position with a $135 million investment is a testament to all the hard work to save the Fund, thanks to the trustee, the court, and the cooperation of the CNMI government, Sablan said.
The trustee, in an earlier report to the federal court, said the CNMI government “is able to make the weekly $1 million payments, in part, because of the increased Casino GRT revenue…. The Casino GRT has developed into a primary source of revenue for the Government.”
Since March, however, the Saipan casino investor, Imperial Pacific International, has shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. IPI is also facing several lawsuits, including from its vendors and former workers who say they have yet to be paid by the casino investor.
