Fitial to House: Hold off action on COP lease, Saipan casino bill votes

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial asked the House leadership yesterday to hold off action on both Suwaso Corp.s’ proposed 15-year land lease extension for its Coral Ocean Point hotel, and a local casino bill legalizing casino gambling on Saipan.

The House and Senate are supposed to have a joint session on Friday to review and consider Suwaso Corp.’s proposed land lease extension, along with South Pacific Lumber’s proposed land lease extensions.

Fitial, who called for a closed-door meeting with the House leadership yesterday afternoon in his office on Capital Hill, told lawmakers he would want to meet first with the Department of Public Lands and the new owners of Suwaso Corp.

House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) and Rep. Stanley Torres (R-Saipan), who were both at the closed-door meeting, said the governor did not ask lawmakers to vote against the proposed land lease extension, but to only hold off acting on the proposal until he meets with the new owners and DPL.

Camacho said Fitial made no mention of Suwaso Corp. until the matter was brought up by Vice Speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov-Saipan).

Torres, for his part, said the governor mentioned his concerns about the previous owners of Coral Ocean Point. The governor publicly said last year that Suwaso Corp.’s land lease won’t be extended when it expires this year because he said the investor “has not lived up to its commitment.”

Fitial was referring to $4 million in “public contributions” that the previous owner of Coral Ocean Point was supposed to provide the CNMI community when it first proposed to extend its lease.

Coral Ocean Point is a hotel and golf course in southern Saipan. Its owner spent over $20 million to build a 55-room hotel and develop the golf course and other facilities during the first 12 years of their operations.

On Thursday, the Senate adopted a resolution supporting Suwaso Corp.’s proposed 15-year land lease extension.

There’s no telling yet whether the speaker, after signing off on a memo calling for a joint session, would ask for the joint session’s postponement.

Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan), for his part, said the leadership had wanted to hear the governor’s concerns about the Saipan casino bill being worked on by two committees of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation.

Torres and Camacho said the governor recommended to the lawmakers to hear first from a casino expert who will be making a PowerPoint presentation about casinos, before finalizing the casino bill.

The governor is in support of casino gambling on Saipan, something that the Senate is strongly opposed to.

Besides Cabrera, Ogumoro, Palacios, Camacho and Torres, the other lawmakers who met with Fitial included Rep. Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan) and Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan).