IPI lawyer to push extension
An Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC lawyer told the Commonwealth Casino Commission last week that he is planning to propose an extension on the scheduled deadline of the Imperial Pacific Resort completion.
IPI general counsel Philip J. Tydingco told commissioners last Thursday that he would be recommending that the Aug. 31, 2018, deadline for the completion of the casino-resort be extended.
Commission executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero earlier reminded IPI executives that failure to come up with 329 rooms by the deadline would mean they would be in violation of the casino license agreement.
“I am fully aware of the obligations that we have, and that is why…I will be recommending an extension,” said Tydingco.
He insists that his recommendation is not politically influenced but only “given what the engineers and the contractors say we can achieve in a safe engineering manner.”
“[It] should be done in a safe engineering and constructional manner, so that is sort of the guiding principal,” said Tydingco.
The commission did not comment on the statement.
IPI was recently approved 1,542 H2-B visas, with the workers expected to arrive in early March, according to IPI’s Eric Poon, reporting to the commission.
He added that the workers were sourced from the Philippines and Taiwan.
He said that IPI currently has about 216 workers as a result of their recent contract signing with Pacific Rim Constructors in Guam and includes the project management team and engineers from the construction firm.
A progress report from IPI submitted to the commission noted that work on the casino resort went down to sluggish rates after IPI’s prime contractor, MCC International, left the island after it was learned that they used illegal workers.
“We are working…to bring the [workers] on board as soon as possible. Hopefully the first batch [will arrive] at the beginning of March 2018,” Poon noted.
Poon’s report did not specify how many H2-B visas IPI applied for and how many were denied. He noted that visas would all be used for the construction of the casino resort.
“I just want to move forward… [of course,] doing it right and emphasi[zing] safety,” said Joseph Reyes, commission vice chair. “Let’s prove the [detractors] wrong.”
Poon responded, “…We want to show the whole…world that we have an amazing project and we are going to have a 5-6 star hotel on Saipan.”
Poon added that IPI is currently in talks to add more shifts in a day to complete the construction by the deadline of August 2018.
Well looky looky here…. timing is impeccable. Just a week after the Bloomberg bombshell and we have another request for an extension. Let me see if I can paraphrase viola alepuyo’s statement regarding the first request for an extension a year ago… it went something to the effect of: “guys this is just a deadline, it can always be moved oh and by the way ipi is contributing another 15 million to the community chest fund soo we should be grateful…” viola, you’re a lawyer so of all people you should know that a deadline means that everything dies after you cross that line, so no! Deadlines are not arbitrary things most especially when it comes to contractual deadlines. Now we have a second request for extension and we have a new requestor. Viola knows better.
Second and more importantly we get to see this administration validate Matthew Campbell’s piece.And just a week after they claimed his article was politically biased… hahahahahaha!
How many DLG Torres’ will it take to accomplish the extension?
Public safety should come first. So they should give an extension, but make sure it is safe.
No, they should enforce the terms of the license and kick these guys to the curb!
The governor, the gaming group commission, the homeless, the cashiers, the 4th graders, all of us can look at that horrendous towering of a building and say “there’s no way they will meet august deadline, it doesn’t take an engineer to figure that out” you people have horrible timing of when to ask. Seriously! Like ahhhhh duhhhhhh. But here is what’s going To happen. Extension will be granted yet again, because this government believes so much in this project and their commonsense(if they ever had any) has been overcome by greed and too much kalakasness