‘Money in repatriation program for workers now zero’

There is no more money in the repatriation program, according to former Judge Timothy H. Bellas, who is chairman of the Garment Oversight Board.

Bellas submitted yesterday in federal court a breakdown of how GOB spent since November 2003 the $356,798 that was allotted as repatriation fund for garment workers under an agreement that settled the class-action lawsuit against the CNMI garment industry.

Bellas said that, from November 2003 to Jan. 26, 2006, GOB issued repatriation payments to 353 workers.

“Under the original program, they gave us 436 names. We were not able to contact 292 of them for various reasons,” the former judge told the Saipan Tribune after yesterday’s hearing at the U.S. District Court for the NMI.

He explained that, of the 436 names, only 144 workers received payments in the total amount of $134,551.72.

Bellas said they could not contact or locate 108 “because the information provided was no good” while five workers indicated that they worked more than two years therefore they’re not eligible under the program.

Two were still working on Saipan. For the 61 others, the letters were returned as non-deliverable and they have no other contact information. There were no responses at all to the letters sent to 116 workers.

The GOB chairman said that, of the 297 workers who came to them, 209 received payments in the total amount of $222,246.28.

He said they could not contact or locate the 88 workers based on the information provided.

“We asked for copies of their passport. We got a staff in Chinese so now there’s much a lower percentage in the number of people we can’t contact. It’s less than 30 percent that we can’t contact. But even then we have 209 people and we gave them $222,246.28,” he said.

Bellas said those whom they can’t contact were removed from the list.

“They can come back, if we have money and we could say, fine you’re eligible, we give it to you. But what I am trying to say is we have to move on down the list,” he said.

Under the $20-million settlement, some $4 million would go to GOB’s monitoring program. Of $4million, GOB was supposed to get $400,000 or 10 percent.

Bellas said they instead got over $350,000 because they did not get the full money in the beginning since two factories did not contribute to the settlement funds.

Aside from Bellas, GOB is composed of two other retired judges Cruz Reynoso and Richard P. Guy. The board was set up pursuant to the settlement to oversee the monitoring program of the garment industry.