Palau lawmakers vow public hearings on casino bill

Unlike the CNMI Legislature, Palau lawmakers said yesterday they will hold public hearings in all their 16 states on a bill legalizing casino operation in Palau at a time when their pension system is on the brink of collapse. Six members of Palau’s House of Delegates on a casino fact-finding mission in the CNMI met yesterday with Gov. Eloy S. Inos and House members, a day after meeting with senators.

Palau lawmakers meet with members of the CNMI House of Representatives yesterday. Six members of Palau’s House of Delegates are on a casino fact-finding mission in the CNMI. The group also met yesterday with Gov. Eloy S. Inos. (Haidee V. Eugenio)

“Palau is on the right track holding public hearings on the casino bill and that will result in a committee report. That didn’t happen here in the CNMI,” Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), one of those who voted “no” to the Saipan casino bill, said upon learning of Palau lawmakers’ plan.

Palau Delegate Lucio Ngiraiwet told Saipan Tribune yesterday that Palau’s Civil Service Pension payout is $1.4 million “but the contribution is only $6,000 to $8,000 a year.”

Ngiraiwet and the other visiting members of the Palau House of Delegates took turns stating what they believe were compelling reasons for Palau lawmakers to introduce and pass on first reading a casino bill. That included their almost broke pension system.

“The whole point of putting this forward, introducing it, is the understanding that we go through public hearings, in all states of Palau,” Ngiraiwet said after meeting with House members and before proceeding to meet with Gov. Eloy S. Inos.

Ngiraiwet heads the six-member Palau delegation and is chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations and State Affairs.

“We are on a fact-finding mission. We want to find out the pros and cons,” Ngiraiwet said.

CNMI House floor leader Ralph Demapan (R-Saipan), who presided over the meeting and author of the Saipan casino bill that became law, told the visiting lawmakers that the casino legislation is a “controversial” one “but it’s the law now.”

Palau Delegate Swenny Ongidobel, chairman of the Committee on Banking and Financial Matters, said Palau wants to “see the result of [CNMI lawmakers’] work” on the casino legislation.

“We didn’t like casino before but now we’re on the same boat,” he said.

Ongidobel said they got most parts of their own casino bill from the Saipan casino bill.

Palau Delegate Lee Otobed, chairman of the Community, Planning and Development Committee, asked CNMI lawmakers how they managed to pass the bill and how they overcame church concerns, considering that the CNMI is a predominantly Catholic community.

Not one of the CNMI House members mentioned that the Saipan casino bill didn’t go through public hearings.

Demapan, however, said “to run a government, we need funds,” referring to the CNMI government’s mounting financial obligations.

“This legislation provided added money to the government,” he said, adding that a big chunk of a two-year advance casino license fee of $30 million was already paid out to retirees for their deferred 25-percent pension and former members of the government’s defined benefit plan.

Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero (R-Saipan) told his counterparts from Palau that in his view, the CNMI people are still “divided” but as lawmakers they had to make the “tough decision.”

Rep. Richard Seman (R-Saipan), Rep. George Camacho (R-Saipan), and others pointed out that casino is only one of the components of an integrated resort, along with hotel rooms, a convention center, retail stores, and restaurants that Palau can benefit from that’s outside of gaming.

Ivan Blanco, acting press secretary, said the administration appreciates the Palau delegation’s visit as arranged by Palau Consul to the CNMI Eileen Kintol.

The Palau delegation, he said, was given a brief chronological timeline of the process of the licensing of the integrated resort and the number of additional rooms to be added to the market.

“The Palau delegation, in turn, shared concern that the life of Palau’s retirement program has 10 years left, and they do not want to wait for the 11th hour. So, they’re on a mission to find ways to mitigate the plan’s unfunded liability, among other things. One industry they’re looking at is an integrated resort like the CNMI’s,” Blanco said.

Palau’s business market is open to both mainland China and Taiwan, which would give them an added leverage.

“Both the governor and the Palau delegation shared that, like any other major economic development activity anywhere, there will always be an opposition outcry, but that the focus on any major economic development is and will always be for the best interest of the people and the future of the Republic of Palau and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” Blanco said when sought for comment on the governor’s meeting with the Palau lawmakers.

At the meeting with CNMI House members, Palau lawmakers also asked how the CNMI came up with a $15-million annual license fee.

This wasn’t directly answered. Tebuteb later said there was no report backing such a $15 million a year license fee.

“Looks like it came out of thin air,” he said.

Rep. Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, told Palau lawmakers that he, too, was among those who previously voted against initiatives to legalize casino on Saipan but he said “times have changed.”

“We no longer have the luxury to wait for miracles [to happen]. We have to make the miracles ourselves,” he said, referring to the need to generate additional revenues to address the government’s growing financial obligations.

Just like the CNMI, Palau also saw multiple rejections of casino initiatives in past years.

This year, however, the CNMI House and Senate successfully passed legislation legalizing casino on Saipan after numerous attempts by lawmakers failed in the past and after Saipan voters twice rejected casino initiatives.

The latest Saipan casino bill wasn’t referred to a committee for review and didn’t go through public hearings.

Besides Ngiraiwet, Ongidobel and Otobed, the three other Palau lawmakers on island are Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committee chair Noah Kemesong; Tourism and Aviation Committee chair Marino Ngemaes; and Maritime, Environment and Protected Areas Committee chair Sebastian Marino. They were accompanied by staffers Tricia Wong and Stalin Stanley.