GPPC to IPI: Pay us

Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC general counsel Phil Tydingco, left, and chief financial officer Ed Chen listen to the discussion in yesterday’s Commonwealth Casino Commission meeting at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s VTC room. (Jon Perez)

Construction firm GPPC Inc. is demanding Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC to pay off its outstanding balance for the services they rendered in the construction of the Imperial Pacific Resort in Garapan.

GPPC’s contract with IPI amounted to $260,000 for electrical and mechanical work. Guam-based Pacific Rim took over from GPPC in February.

When sought for comments, an IPI representative said in a statement that they are currently working to settle all obligations. “The company is currently working on the settlement payment with GPPC and other vendors following the completion of its ongoing routine evaluation of all of its service providers, including the aforementioned vendor(s).”

Pacific Rim, whose owner, Keith Stewart, had promised to complete 250 rooms at Imperial Pacific Resort by August, placed its employees at the construction site on “temporary leave” late last month as they renegotiate their contract with the lone casino operator on Saipan.

GPPC consultant John Reyes informed the Commonwealth Casino Commission of IPI’s alleged obligation during yesterday’s meeting at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s VTC room. He asked the commission for help in having IPI settle its obligations with them.

“We tried to reach out to them, if there is a way that we could get our money because we also have employees to pay. In the contract between GPPC and IPI, there are rules there that we must get paid. We have not been paid since February this year,” said Reyes during the public comment portion of the meeting.

“Again, we have employees to pay and that’s what we’re only asking. I’m submitting our invoice for application for payment for the record. All we are asking, since we have a contract, is for them to pay us.”

Commission chair Juan Sablan said they are going to look into the matter and discuss the issue further in executive session, while commission executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero wants to know the total amount IPI owes GPPC.

“We wanted to know how much is the total amount [IPI owes] and what are the efforts made [by GPPC] for them to get paid. We will discuss this with [IPI’s] chief financial officer, on the status of this issue,” added Deleon Guerrero.

Reyes, in a separate interview with the Saipan Tribune, said that IPI was on time with their first two payments but missed their third, fourth, and fifth payments.

“We still have not received something from them. The third application for payment was way back in February. It’s a long time ago and they have not responded yet.”

“IPI still owes us almost $160,000. Not only that, we have to charge them for the delay…the interest for all those times they missed payment. We need money to also pay our employees.”

He added that GPPC has already done its part of the contract. “We completed our part in the contract, everything we did based on the contract is there. I was not supposed to come to the meeting but this issue has been dragging already. It’s [already] August and we’re still not yet paid.”