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Pension obligation bond initiative draws support
A House pension obligation bond legislative initiative now pending at the Senate drew strong support yesterday from retirees and the NMI Retirement Fund, and senators are poised to act on the measure at their next session.
If House Legislative Initiative 17-5 passes the Senate, the pension obligation bond initiative will be placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.
HLI 17-5 could pave the way for floating millions of dollars in bonds specifically to help pay the government’s more than $320 million outstanding debt to the beleaguered NMI Retirement Fund.
Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), chairperson of the Senate Special Committee on Retirement Fund Issues, heard testimony from Retirement Fund administrator Richard Villagomez, Commonwealth Retirees Association president Larry Cabrera, CRA director Diego Benavente, and other retirees including Agnes McPhetres, Josephine Sablan, and Oscar Camacho.
All of them testified in favor of HLI 17-5, which passed the House on July 6.
They all urged the Senate to pass the legislative initiative as soon as possible, so that it will be sent to the Commonwealth Election Commission and for a public education campaign to be formally launched soon after.
Benavente, in his testimony, said there seems to be “confusion” with the legislative initiative, which he said was the same “reason” why a similar measure was defeated in the 2010 elections. He said passage of the initiative will “allow” the government to borrow specifically to pay off obligations to the Fund, and not for government operations.
“This does not open opportunity for the government to borrow for operations, but only for pension obligation,” he told Taimanao and other members of the special committee, including Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Sen. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan), and Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota).
Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said during the public hearing that in the last election, the pension obligation bond legislative initiative was defeated because of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
Manglona said two or three years prior to that vote, “the governor maneuvered” a proposal that he signed into law “suspending contributions to the Retirement Fund, that’s why people rejected it.”
He said this is more reason for the House to now pass a Senate legislative initiative setting aside 25 percent of government revenues to pay the NMI Retirement Fund.
There are barely three weeks to go before the Aug. 8 deadline to submit legislative initiatives to the Commonwealth Election Commission, for it to be placed on the Nov. 6 ballot.
