Where’s our interest payments?

Active DB members, do you ask or wonder about the interest on your refunds? It’s been three months and si Governor Inos has not paid us the interest. I wonder why? You know what is weird about all this is, first, they told us that Judge Govendo put aside $100 million for us and they said that is our money set aside for us to retire on. Then as the Fund started collapsing, they told us there is not enough money for us to retire and no more withdrawals. Then when Richard Villagomez (former Fund administrator) spilled the beans about the overpayment of some retirees, they started drafting laws to allow us to withdraw. When we agreed to withdraw, the Fund’s board members decided to file for bankruptcy without notifying all members. I wonder if they did that on purpose to cover their mistakes and corrupted system that is now holding our investment hostage? Then finally, they came into an agreement to refund and hold the interest to pay the attorney first. Why? Is this constitutional? Are we responsible for their problems? We didn’t get our fair share to retire, plus they make us wait for almost a year before they returned our contributions and now si governor is telling us that there is no money yet for us. We work for so many years, why hasn’t he done anything yet?

What’s more questionable is this credit union, which loaned money from the Fund but is also in serious debt to its members. Now our leaders are going to help it pay the refunds of its members first and ignore their obligation under Public Law 17-82. A loaning business that got bankrupt for the third time and no investigation done is seriously questionable. Don’t you think the management needs to be audited first? How come they are going to help them pay the credit union members the refunds first and ignore their obligation under PL 18-72 that is way past due?

Does this mean that si governor agreed to give away the interest to pay the attorneys first and agree to pay us the interest even if he doesn’t have any guaranteed money to pay us? Aside from taking our money and using it without our consent, why did the governor do that?

According to Judge Gatewood, the government is obligated to pay us the interest. Why is the governor ignoring this law? Does this mean that as a governor he can do whatever he pleases? We need to know what’s going on and why he is saying that there is no money to pay us yet. If there is no money, then how come they have money for the corrupted credit union, that we all know is questionable, whether the government is responsible to pay the members’ refund or not. Don’t they need to be investigated?

Not updating us with the status of our interest is another neglect of duty as a governor who put our retirement in jeopardy and killed the active members’ retirement. And since he agreed to pay the lawyers who hold our interest money without asking us again, then I believe it’s only fair that he give us an update of our interest status. I hope he is not waiting for election time again to make empty promises. He better do it now, so we can add this as one of the reason why we should vote for them again.

It is sad enough that majority of the Fund’s members are suffering because they are not capable of voicing out their rights and their concerns like Betty Johnson, who knows her way around to use the retirees. Many members were afraid of losing their contributions so they agreed to the refund, and many retirees didn’t opt out because of the threat that they will not get their retirement check anymore if they opt out.

You know, you’re not the one who made the retirement broke. It’s this people handling your retirement. And now that it came to this disaster, I don’t know why they are allowing those who are responsible for this destruction to get away with it? If they are really honest about justice, then why did they allow such problem to grow and burden them with so many responsibilities? Won’t it be less of a problem if they let those responsible pay for their lawyer? We the majority should be provided with an attorney. But, like I said, they hold everything from us. That made us defenseless in providing evidence to prove them wrong and unjust.

Active members, help me voice out and support my demand for the interest to be paid in accordance with the law. Last October, I shed a bucket of tears when they forced active members to sign the waiver, but receiving only what we contributed is more painful and a relief that at least we got our money back.

I hope I’m not the only one out here awaiting for the update of when the governor is going to pay active members their interest. I wonder what kind of law is out there to help us with this issue? I mean our elected officials are breaking the law that they made.

You know, if you don’t pay the power, they cut. When you don’t pay tax, you get penalty. But when the government owes us, they get away with it. I mean what kind of justice is this?

I know how much interest the government owes me, but how much altogether do they owe active members? This I want to know plus how and when are they planning to pay us.

Winnie Atalig
San Jose Village, Tinian