NMC president withdraws bonus request

Citing the reduced budget of the Northern Marianas College, NMC president Tony V. Deleon Guerrero has withdrawn his request for his employment contract to be amended to give him a retirement severance bonus of $24,000.

Deleon Guerrero, in a letter he submitted to the Board of Regents during its Wednesday meeting, said his decision was in anticipation of the financial hardships that lie ahead for NMC and the CNMI government as a whole.

“I personally feel that my decision to continue serving as the president of NMC is far more rewarding than the $24,000 retirement bonus I would have received had I retired back in December 2005,” Deleon Guerrero.

By foregoing the monetary reward that he claimed he deserved, he said this proved that he has demonstrated “professional loyalty and commitment to NMC. He said he is hoping that people will recognize that he did not accept the NMC presidency all because of monetary incentives.

The president said he still is looking forward to working collaboratively with the board, college administrators, faculty and staff members to continuously improve NMC’s educational programs and services.

During a Personnel Committee meeting last Feb. 23, BOR member Eloise Furey had objected to granting the NMC president’s request for a 30-percent “severance bonus.”

Whether the president chose to retire or not in December 2005 was his personal choice, like it is for all other eligible CNMI retirees, Furey said.

Furey also objected to the term “severance bonus” because the term is commonly defined as a payment to one who is going away to a paid situation or to an unpaid situation. She said the president’s request had no “severance” in the situation at all.

Upon his eventual retirement, the government will continue to pay Deleon Guerrero through his retirement benefits, said Furey.

“When he chose not to retire in 2005, he lost his then legally available opportunity to receive a 30 percent retirement bonus, as did every other then eligible, and now continuing CNMI government employees,” she added.

BOR chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds earlier said in an open letter sent to the media that Deleon Guerrero’s request was not deemed unreasonable and the board had assured the president that his request would be considered and a decision when reached would be communicated to him.

“Unfortunately, since then, the terms of four of the college’s seven members expired and the board could not act on this matter or other pressing issues due to a lack of quorum since the month of October,” King-Hinds said.