IMPERIAL Pacific International’s parent company in Hong Kong has been told to cease its casino business on Saipan that it can no longer afford to operate, IPI human resources director Redie Dela Cruz said during a meeting with the Commonwealth Casino Commission on Thursday.
Dela Cruz was responding to Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero who asked her, “At what point in time do you recommend [that] the company throw in the towel, and just let the employees know IPI is closing shop?”
The HR director replied, “I have already made that recommendation to the company.”
Deleon Guerrero asked her if she made that recommendation in writing. She said she didn’t.
The commission chairman asked the question during a discussion on IPI’s failure to pay its remaining 30 employees for the March 21 to April 3 and April 4 to April 17 pay periods.
The paychecks should have been out on April 8 and April 22, respectively.
Deleon Guerrero reminded Dela Cruz and IPI’s acting chief executive officer Tao Xing that whenever IPI fails to pay its workers “is a continuing and a compounding of a violation.”
Xing responded, “We all know that.”
Deleon Guerrero asked if there was any update on the $250,000 that the U.S. Department Labor was holding as security deposit for IPI payroll. Dela Cruz said she had not received an update on that matter.
Deleon Guerrero asked if there was any condition for the release of the funds.
Xing said there was no condition. He surmised that U.S. Labor was holding the $250,000 “maybe for other matters, we don’t know.”
Asked if IPI made a request to U.S. Labor for the release of the funds, Xing said IPI already did so through its U.S.-based attorney.
IPI remitted the $250,000 to U.S. Labor on May 28, 2021 as required by a consent judgment issued by the federal court.
IPI expects the money to be released this month, but Xing noted that “so far, we have not seen any action” on the part of U.S. Labor.
Deleon Guerrero reiterated that one of the conditions of the exclusive casino license is financial suitability. Not paying employees, he said, is not consistent with the financial suitability requirement.
So every time IPI’s HR has to inform employees that they are not going to get paid is proof that IPI is not financially suitable, Deleon Guerrero said. “Do you agree with me on that observation?” he asked Dela Cruz who answered, “I do.”
But Dela Cruz said she had not told the employees to “throw in the towel.”
She said she made the recommendation to IPI’s top management if they can no longer afford the costs of their business on Saipan.
IPI, whose casino shut down in March 2020 amid the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, was initially scheduled to appear before the commission for a revocation hearing Tuesday, May 3. But Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom said both parties came up with a joint stipulation dated April 26 requesting an adjustment of the hearing date to May 24.
Commonwealth Casino Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, center background, asks Imperial Pacific International acting CEO Tao Xing a question as commission vice chairman Ralph Demapan, commissioner Ramon Dela Cruz, and executive director Andrew Yeom, right, listen during a meeting Thursday in the commission’s conference room at Springs Plaza in Gualo Rai.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
