Saipan casino law fix now heads to Senate

Before a considerable crowd of mostly retirees waiting for payment of their deferred 25-percent pension, the House of Representatives passed yesterday afternoon a bill repealing and reenacting the Saipan casino law to clarify its ambiguities and fully empower the Lottery Commission to award an exclusive Saipan casino license. The bill passed the House at 4:08pm by a vote of 15-3 with two absences and is now on its way to the Senate for action tomorrow.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos said he intends to promptly sign the corrective bill once the Legislature passes it.

For more than an hour since the session began at 1:30pm yesterday, over a dozen retirees testified in favor of House Bill 18-195’s passage.

Retirees believe that the bill’s enactment will pave the way for the award of an exclusive Saipan casino license and the release of $30 million for payments of retirees’ 25 percent pension and former defined benefit plan members’ accrued contribution interest.

Only three individuals—Leila Staffler, Ambrose Bennett, and Chailang Palacios—testified against the bill’s passage and urged lawmakers to instead allow voters to directly decide in the Nov. 4 elections whether or not they want a casino on Saipan.

Bennett said the vote was “nothing more than a political plot against the people,” who already voted twice to reject casino on Saipan.

“My motives for this are truly to give people a chance to vote [on the casino issue],” Staffler told lawmakers.

She said she supports retirees, but she also supports a democratic process. “Had we followed the process, we won’t be here today.” Staffler added that the “best choice” is to repeal the Saipan casino law in its entirety and place it on the ballot.

The vote on HB 18-195 came a day after Staffler submitted to the Office of the Attorney General referendum petitions to reject the Saipan casino and electronic gaming laws, with over 4,200 signatures.

The petitioners are wary that HB 18-195, once signed into law, would kill the casino referendum.

But with well over a hundred retirees and former DB plan members crowding the House chamber and the front area of the legislative building on Capital Hill, the crowd already knew where lawmakers’ vote would go.

“3,800 retirees. We are one voice. We are one vote,” read a placard that a retiree was holding while watching the House session. Another reads, “We need our 25% Don’t delay our 25%. Will you vote with us?”

“This will bring a lot of relief to the lives of so many people,” 67-year-old retiree Joe Aldan told Saipan Tribune moments after HB 18-195’s passage. “After retirees’ comments, I felt comfortable that the legislators can sympathize, relate to their constituents.”

‘Not over yet’

Gregorio “Kazuma” Camacho and Clyde Norita said the process isn’t over yet so they are asking retirees to once again show up at the Senate session at 2pm on Thursday to ensure the bill’s passage.

House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), author of HB 18-195 and co-author of the Saipan casino bill that became law, proposed a floor amendment yesterday.

The proposal, among other things, gave the Lottery Commission full authority to issue a license and designate the Lottery Commission’s chairman as the expenditure authority for the application fees, portions of which were used to investigate and review the two casino applications.

After about an hour of discussion, members adopted Demapan’s floor amendment at 3:53pm.

House members then debated HB 18-195, as amended.

Vice Speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan) said the debate is not about paying retirees’ deferred pension but about casino operation on Saipan.

He spoke at length what he described as negative social impacts of having a casino on Saipan, including increased murders, “ice” trafficking and money laundering, among other crimes. He said he doesn’t want to be a part of the decision that would allow more crimes to happen on Saipan.

“The question is not really about retirees’ 25 percent pension. …We all agreed it should be returned to them. The question before us is having a casino on Saipan. …Participation on a monumental decision rests only with 29 lawmakers and the governor,” he said. He asked his colleagues whether they believe Saipan’s power, water, and other infrastructure can accommodate a 2,000-room casino resort.

The votes

The 15 House members who voted “yes” to HB 18-195, HD1’s passage—in the order of their voting—were Reps. Antonio Agulto (Ind-Saipan), Anthony Benavente (Ind-Saipan), George Camacho (R-Saipan), Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), Christopher Leon Guerrero (Cov-Saipan), Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan), Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan), John Paul Sablan (Cov-Saipan), Teresita Santos (R-Rota), Richard Seman (R-Saipan), Mario Taitano (Ind-Saipan), Roman Benavente (Ind-Saipan), Trenton Conner (Ind-Tinian), and Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan).

The three “no” votes were from Reps. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan), and Vice Speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan).

Villagomez later said he “cannot go against what the people did years ago, and that is vote against the casino.”

“It should be referred to the people and let them decide,” Villagomez said.

The two absent members were Reps. Ralph Yumul (Ind-Saipan) and Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan).

Yumul and Maratita historically opposed either casino gaming on Saipan or the process by which the Saipan casino bill was passed. The vote could have been 15-5, but that would still send the bill to the nine-member Senate.

Gonzalo DLG. Pangelinan, a retiree, said that Saipan voters had already turned down casino twice, but “times have changed” and retirees need lawmakers’ help to get their 25-percent pension back.

Jose Naputi Santos, in vernacular, said he used to enjoy a cheeseburger but with the 25-percent cut on his pension, all he could afford now is the burger—without cheese and other garnishing—drawing laughter from the crowd.

Retiree Catalino Sanchez, for his part, said that people should not miss this opportunity for economic activity. He said he has been reading the newspaper and noted that there has not been a viable alternative to casino that’s been offered.

“If you don’t have anything to present, zip it…If you say ‘no’ to casino, why?”

He said he was livid to learn that the Saipan casino issue could be brought to Washington, D.C. “That is disrespectful to us,” he said, adding that he sees it as a “threat” and an act of “bullying” the CNMI.

Representatives of the two casino applicants—Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc. and Best Sunshine International Ltd.—were also at the House session.

The two are vying for a license to exclusively develop a minimum $2 billion integrated casino resort on Saipan with at least 2,000 guest rooms.