Who do you care for?

If e-gaming is casino, SO WHAT! At least e-gaming was designed to provide night entertainment for tourists, especially for those coming from mainland China, and more importantly, to provide much needed revenue to pay the pension for over 3,000 retirees and their children and for payment of amounts owed to several thousand more defined benefit members who terminated their membership in the Defined Benefit Plan pursuant to PL 17-82, as amended.

To you who paid for the ads without identifying yourself, what have you done to enhance tourism? How much have you paid to the CNMI treasury to help restore the 25-percent pension cut to retirees and their families? What have you done to improve the lives of the people of Saipan?

If you are a company that is teetering on bankruptcy, your self-serving ad is not going anywhere because e-gaming is much too important to the majority of retirees who depend on their pension for their livelihood.

Instead of engaging in fear-mongering and self-serving nonsense to save your failing business, do something positive and generate the millions of dollars needed to restore the 25-percent pension cut and extend the life of the pension fund. Then and only then can you be a credible advocate for the over 3,000 families on Saipan. E-gaming on Saipan will do just that! A full blown casino on Saipan would even do better—restore the 25-percent pension cut and extend the life of the pension fund for over 3,000 retirees and their children and pay off long overdue land compensation to the people of Saipan.

Again, to you and your self-serving nonsense, generate the millions of dollar needed to extend the life of the pension fund and pay off all unpaid land compensation to the people of Saipan and then, and only then, can you be a credible advocate for your despicable nonsense.

I applaud the members of the House and Senate for passing H.B. 18-51 and tip my hat to the members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Government and Law for holding public hearings on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan and for reporting favorably on the bill to the full Senate for passage. The views expressed during the public hearing were overwhelmingly positive based on the committee report. Where were you during these public hearings?

The members of the 18th Legislature did a commendable job in passing H.B. 18-51. They made it clear that they care for over 3,000 retirees and their families and several thousand more defined benefit members. What do you care for? Or better, who do you care for?

I eagerly await the disclosure of your identity and your contributions to tourism and CNMI Treasury so that we can continue this dialogue.