THE management of Imperial Pacific International on Tuesday informed its remaining employees that it cannot pay their utility bills.
Although the casino has shut down and the construction of the casino hotel in Garapan has stopped, IPI still has 15 construction workers tasked to dismantle the tower cranes from the unfinished building, 17 security guards manning the hotel casino and warehouses in San Antonio and Lower Base, and eight administrative staffers holding down the office at Flame Tree in Sadog Tasi.
Some of the security personnel and in-house construction workers live in Queen’s Apartment in Garapan which is provided by IPI.
On Tuesday, the IPI management issued a memorandum regarding the “disconnection of utilities.”
The IPI management said: “With the financial challenges it faces, we inform you that IPI cannot meet the monthly obligation of utility services payable and due on March 15, 2022 for the Queen’s Apartment property.”
“Relocation options will be offered to you. Details will be made available to individual residents once confirmed. If you are able to cure this with your personal resources, we urge you to contact the landlord, through its authorized representative, to make the necessary arrangement. We send our sincerest apologies for the inconveniences that this will cause you,” the IPI management said.
Undue hardship
In an interview, Chendy Apas, one of IPI’s construction workers, said IPI’s failure to pay them in three pay periods has caused undue hardship. He doesn’t live in an IPI-provided apartment so his unpaid rent is $380 for February and he is also unlikely to pay rent due this month. He said his unpaid power bill is $300.
Apas said he also has to pay his car loan and insurance, along with the penalties that are already piling up.
Jess Aquiningoc, the team leader of IPI’s construction workers, said he has received a disconnection notice from Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
Like Apas, he pays for his own apartment. He said he has been trying to come up with some money to pay his power bills, “but I don’t know how IPI expects me to pay when they have not been paying me my salary.”
Aquiningoc said he has called IPI management but he hasn’t received a response.
He said he will have to return to Guam because he needs to find a way to survive. He could have left Saipan months ago, he added, but he and his team wanted to ensure the safety of the public at the IPI construction site.
But with IPI’s failure to pay their salary, he said he cannot force his team to climb the tower and do the work.
Social Security
Aquiningoc said he and other IPI employees are going to the U.S. Social Security office because they found out that IPI has not remitted the Social Security contributions that were deducted from their paychecks since December 2019.
Last month, a former IPI employee tasked to supervise the casino’s electronic gaming machine brought the same issue to IPI management.
