‘House inaction harms retirees’

CNMI retirees face an indefinite delay in their 25 percent pension payments that some lawmakers tie to a “shortfall” that the Saipan casino law guaranteed when it mandated a $15-million annual casino license fee, an amount that falls short of the estimated $17 million annually needed to address the pension reduction, according to Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao (Ind-Saipan) on Saturday.

“We were going to be short no matter what,” Attao said in an interview on Saturday, a day after thousands of retirees failed to receive their expected 25 percent pension check. “I don’t know where the magic number of $15 million came from. Is it right? I don’t know.”

Attao said he foresaw the issue coming to ahead and believes the situation could have been avoided if the legislature had acted on his bill, House Bill 19-21, which dedicated the entire $15 million annual fee toward payments to retirees’ 25 percent pension.

In Attao’s estimation, using the $15 million and then adding some $780,000 from e-gaming fee collection would have solved the shortfall.

“If you put that together with the $15 million, it’s full payment for the entire CNMI.”

Right now, the $15 million annual fee is disbursed as $2 million to Rota, $2 million to Tinian, and $1 million to Saipan, with $10 million to retirees’ 25 percent pension.

The bill, though, would move casino money negotiated for Rota and Tinian to solve the issue, a move that Attao called an “unpopular decision” and what he believes has caused the bill, introduced over a year ago, to sit idle in committee.

“And I respect that, “Attao said. “They negotiated. I respect the process how we got there, but this whole issue has nothing to with the different senatorial districts standing by themselves—this is everybody in the CNMI.”

“The bottom line is everyone is affected. It is a CNMI problem. We should work as brothers and sisters to help our people.”

“I don’t believe the retiree association were even given an opportunity to comment,” Attao also said.

In 2014, when the Saipan casino law passed, the CNMI took the first and fifth year casino licenses upfront, a total of $30 million, as a retroactive payment for retirees for payments lost from the October 2013 to July the following year.

“We got 2nd, 3rd, 4th year left at $15 million. At the fifth year, we will have zero in fees because we already collected it in the first year.

But Attao’s bill attempts to cover this fifth year “hole” by having the first year and last year, or year 40 of the casino license, cover the first $30 million forked upfront.

“We could have avoided this situation today. We could have avoided this if we had acted on 19-21. If we push it aside we will face this problem again,” Attao said.

“It’s like a monster that keeps peeking back up.”

‘For retirees, retirees but no action for them’

House Bill 19-21 attempted to address the retirees’ issues, Rep. Ramon Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) said, because that was the “whole argument of the exclusive casino” on Saipan.

But, “here we are at 130-some bills [introduced in the House]. Here we are again. What is the leadership doing about it? We submit solutions and it’s basically being ignored,” he said, referring to Attao’s bill.

A casino law amendment to clarify the powers of the Commonwealth Casino Commission and provide these regulators funding was passed since the time of Attao’s bill.

But Tebuteb said the “whole argument when we were debating the casino law was that it was for the retirees” and urged action on 19-21.

“19-21 is getting older than Santa Claus,” Tebuteb said. “There is that possibility of fixing things but our own elected leaders have a lackadaisical attitude because golf is more important than anything.”

Still, Tebuteb, said, “We are all being blamed.”

Saipan Tribune tried multiples times but failed to contact House Speaker Ralph Demapan (R-Saipan) over the phone for the House leadership’s position on the issue.

Lawmakers were called and hammered by constituents over the surprise pension check delay.

Retirees who amount to over 3,000 people, with some 400 living outside the Commonwealth, are seen as a large voting pool.

Tebuteb also drew concern to the number of $15 million for the casino annual license fee.

Tebuteb said, during the time the bill was debated, a question was posed by then vice speaker Francisco Dela Cruz to the bill’s author, current speaker Rafael Demapan on this $15 million number.

“How did the $15 million come about? Why not $5 million? Why not $50 million?” Tebuteb recalled.

“He couldn’t answer,’ Tebuteb said of Demapan. “Because they were just ready to move on and pass that casino law.”

Uncertainty

The delay in the 25 percent pension payment came as shock to many retirees, many of whom first heard about the news through local papers on Friday, the day they were set to get their pension check.

Many in the families in the Commonwealth depend on the retiree check as subsidy on household income.

“It really affected us,” a retiree, who resides in Kagman, told Saipan Tribune.

“I was telling my husband last night, maybe I should go out look for a job because I don’t know how long is this 25 reduction,” said the retiree, 61 years old, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.

“But I don’t know,” she said, “I’m a sick person, I have health problems, I don’t think I can guarantee to go back to work. I’ve been working for so many years, and now [am] depending on this salary we are earning,”

“I have already scheduled for what to pay,” she said. “I thought the Retirement [fund] was back to back to normal…I just got myself a car. And now that it is reduced, I am worried. What happened? They won’t approve my loan, if” this continues.

She said her and her husband’s plan was to reserve half of their paycheck to pay for the car. “Now, I am worried, it won’t be enough.”

“I took their words already that it is back to normal but then now without anything, we didn’t hear anything,” she said. “I have a house to pay, a car, CUC.”

“Yesterday morning, when the news came out, that’s the time when we found out,” she said.