Parties’ absence hampers dialogue on hospital’s $7M loan

Marianas Public Land Trust board of directors has decided to table last Friday the discussion on the newly signed law that will provide the public hospital $7 million in supplemental funding for its operation due to absence and non-participation of all parties concerned on the loan proposal.

MPLT called a special meeting last Friday solely to focus on the issue, but only Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief financial officer Alvaro Santos and board member Roy Rios were in attendance to discuss, among other things, the true state of the Commonwealth Health Center and its viability to fulfill the loan agreement.

MPLT chair Pedro Deleon Guerrero was informed that corporation chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta attended an important meeting at CHC, while MPLT received no confirmation that Secretary of Finance Larissa Larson or Attorney General Edward Buckingham were going to join Friday’s meeting.

Because of this, Deleon Guerrero wrote Babauta after the meeting reiterating the concerns of the MPLT.

“The meeting was an abbreviated discussion. We received a basic update on the situation at CHC as to its operations and finances. MPLT also impressed on CHC the pending requirements under the existing consolidated loan agreement for the original $3 million. Unfortunately, this was the limit of what we could do at [today’s] meeting given the absence of parties invited to participate in this discussion critical to the supplemental loan request,” said Deleon Guerrero.

The chairman said that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has emphasized that in approving Public Law 17-76, CHC must obtain the concurrence of the Office of the Governor, Secretary of Finance, and the Office of Attorney General as to any supplemental loan and related expenditures.

“MPLT is fine with this requirement, and the trustees have endorsed the collaborative approach with respect to CHC’s needs. Indeed, that was the purpose of today’s meeting and regrettably we were unable to initiate substantive discussions. More specifically, what are the challenges that lay ahead as to CHC’s ability to secure an additional investment from MPLT in the areas of its finances, operations, and management,” Deleon Guerrero told Babauta in his letter dated June 15.

According to the chairman, the MPLT also wished to explore the ramifications of the expressed policy decision toward privatization of CHC and the many other ongoing uncertainties with its operations.

“Without a focused and substantive engagement the decision-makers, the trustees cannot even proceed with the prospect of the investment much less the due diligence process,” he said, adding that MPLT hopes that CHC can engage the finance secretary and the AG as to its plans and the MPLT Trustees stand ready to meet if and when everyone is ready to continue the dialogue and discussions.

MPLT earlier admitted that $7 million has already been reserved for the new loan, which will sum up the hospital’s loan obligation to $11.58 million, including the $3 million earlier released for its operation and the $1.58 million set aside for the CHC electronic health record system project, both released in March.