Workers’ ordeal in paradise

When Mang Pedro decided to leave the Philippines to work on Saipan in the early 1980s, he carried strong hopes to one day realize his dream of comfortable life — for himself and for the family he would have.

Mang Pedro — not his real name — landed a job at the Sablan Construction Company. Armed with solid determination and the skills he had mastered for years, he slowly earned the management’s trust which kept him for almost 21 years.

In the first 18 years of his employment with Sablan Construction, Mang Pedro thought the realization of his dream was already within reach — he has raised a family of four children and a loving wife.

Unlike thousands of families back in the Philippines, Mang Pedro’s family owns a car and lives in a nice apartment complete with telephone facilities. He is able to provide three square meals for his family everyday. And most importantly, he is able to send his four children to school.

But as it has been said and as it has always been, life is a lot more volatile than the stock market. What you rightfully own now may no longer be yours tomorrow.

After 21 years, Mang Pedro still works for Sablan Construction. The only difference is the company does not have enough projects these days and consequently, not enough income to pay its 100-some employees.

Sablan Construction is only one of the several companies in the Northern Marianas affected by the severe economic depression that fanned towards the islands from the Asian financial upheavals in 1998.

But unlike several of its competitors which opted to shut down, Sablan Construction chose to remain in business and retain its close to 100 employees who have decided to stay even if they do not receive their paychecks on time.

One of these employees is Mang Pedro who joined 10 of his co-workers for a march yesterday to Karidat where they asked for financial help.

The workers were provided by Karidat with $75 each to purchase food for themselves. It turns out that most of them have not been receiving their respective paychecks from Sablan Construction for a minimum of over one month now.

Still, the workers have only good words for Sablan Construction and its management. They said the company has been good to them during the time business was good and that they understand the deep financial problem it faces now.

“We are not complaining. The company has been good to us and we are aware that this is happening not because they wanted to but because there are no construction projects right now. Business is bad and we understand that,” says Mang Pedro in an interview outside Joeten Chalan Kiya where they rushed after receiving help from Karidat.

He adds that majority of the workers have stayed amid an offer from the company to provide for their repatriation and payment of their unpaid salary, although the company admits it is not financially capable to do this outright.

Most of the disgruntled workers have apparently decided to stay with the company for the basic reason that they can stay in the Northern Marianas legally and eventually find a job in another company.

Mang Pedro admits most of them are willing to transfer to another company if they can find vacancy. He says Sablan Construction has also repeatedly told them that it will immediately release them and sign their transfer documents promptly.

“But there’s just nowhere to go. We couldn’t find jobs somewhere else. Everybody appears to be cutting costs and businesses are still not doing good,” he says.

Also, Mang Pedro cannot afford to leave Saipan where he currently raises four children who are American citizens. He has been on Saipan even before traffic lights were installed. Most of his co-workers are.

Some of his colleagues also lament that their families back in the Philippines have accused them of “womanizing” on Saipan because of their repeated failure to send them money. They say it should no longer come as a surprise if they, one day, see their families break apart.

In the meantime, the workers hope to remain within Sablan Construction’s stable of manpower, brave the delay in the payment of their salaries, and hope that the construction industry makes a good comeback.