Ex-DLNR chief sues NMIRF

Former congressman and former department secretary Thomas B. Pangelinan has sued the NMI Retirement Fund for alleged illegal withholding of his annuities from January 2000 to February 2004 amounting to some $70,000.

In a lawsuit filed last Friday in Superior Court, Pangelinan, through legal counsel Robert Torres, said that the Fund, by and through its administrator Karl T. Reyes, misapplied the law on double-dipping.

Pangelinan, who retired after 25 years from government service in July 1995, said that the Fund had withheld his monthly pension of $1,393 from January 2000 when he was elected and served as congressman from Precinct 4 to January 2002.

At the same time, he said that the Fund required him during that period to contribute to the Fund as a member.

After his term, Pangelinan came back to the government, this time as secretary of the Department of Land and Natural Resources under the Babauta administration.

The Fund, he said, stopped giving him his retirement annuities during his term as cabinet secretary from February 2002 until his resignation in February 2004.

“Once again, the Fund administrator, confirming the saying that no public service goes unpunished, summarily re-enrolled Mr. Pangelinan as a contributing member and withheld his retirement annuity from the period Mr. Pangelinan’s departure from the Legislature and into his term as DLNR secretary,” Torres said in the complaint for declaratory judgment against the Fund.

On or about Aug. 24, 2000, he said, the Fund administrator informed Pangelinan to return the 30 percent early retirement bonus on account of his return to the government as an elected official.

“The Fund administrator determined that as a result of Mr. Pangelinan’s misfortune to be elected as a representative, he was required to return the 30 percent bonus. In addition, the administrator then summarily ‘re-enrolled’ Mr. Pangelinan into the NMIRF as a contributing employee and dis-enrolled him as retiree entitled to his retirement annuity,” said Torres.

In Aug. 2003, the Fund informed Pangelinan that the percentage of gross earnings he paid NMIRF was incorrect and that he had underpaid his contribution as Class II member.

After his resignation from DLNR, the Fund administrator required him to re-apply for retirement to receive his annuity.

His benefits were re-calculated to include the period of contributions as an elected representative and as DLNR secretary and his salaries and found his salaries as two of the of the three “highest salaries.”

As a result, Torres said, the Fund administrator “improperly and illegally recalculated” Mr. Pangelinan’s retirement benefits and established his annuity at $1,799.

Pangelinan asked the Court to declare that the Fund’s decision to withhold his annuity was unlawful and salary deduction for NMIRF contribution and re-enrolment was illegal.

He also accused the Fund of misapplication of Public Law 10-88, which directs that retirees elected to office “may waive their salaries and direct them toward the Scholarship Fund.”

“However, P.L. 10-88 does not mandate that, as retiree who was elected to public office, Mr. Pangelinan shall forfeit his salary and receive his retirement benefits as a matter of law. Rather, the statute only allows Mr. Pangelinan, at this option and in his discretion, to waive his legislator’s salary and Mr. Pangelinan never exercised that option,” said Torres.

Further, the plaintiff cites deprivation of constitutional right to due process as his dis-enrolment and re-enrolment was made without prior notice, unlawful taking of property (pension), and denial of equal protection as other retirees “have been allowed to double dip,” breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Torres said Pangelinan was entitled to his retirement pension and his salary as a double-dipping government employee, as an elected representative, and as DLNR Secretary duly nominated and confirmed by the Senate.