{"id":226091,"date":"2016-04-22T06:06:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T20:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=226091"},"modified":"2016-04-22T06:06:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T20:06:52","slug":"tang-wants-weekly-schedule-govt-payments-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/tang-wants-weekly-schedule-govt-payments-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Tang wants weekly schedule of govt payments to Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NMI<\/a>
NMI Settlement Fund trustee Joyce Tang gets snappy with Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan), not in photo, during a Q&A in the House of Representatives chamber yesterday. (Dennis B. Chan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joyce Tang, trustee of the NMI Settlement Fund, pushed the fund\u2019s interest on lawmakers yesterday requesting government payments be at an equal weekly basis and not \u201cby the end of each quarter\u201d as is now, hinting at an \u201cask\u201d for legislation to mandate such a payment schedule.<\/p>\n

Tang, accompanied by fund lawyers, gave a presentation on the status of the Settlement Fund to senators and representatives yesterday, more than two months after lawmakers passed emergency measures to allow the government to meet unmet pension payments when the Settlement Fund refused to disburse and return funds that the government had reprogrammed because they were \u201cnot appropriate\u201d and not an \u201cauthorized appropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tang, during the presentation and later to reporters, emphasized the impact of regular payments would have on the \u201cdepletion date\u201d of liabilities owed and paid out by the government, which was projected at 2019 yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not trying to meet that depletion date, we are trying to avoid the depletion date,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is the purpose of this presentation. I have confidence that this body, the representatives and the senators, will do the right thing by the retirees and very simply to help us get regular payments and ensure we get regular payments in the course of the year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat will go a long way in helping the retirees\u2026pushing out the depletion date,\u201d Tang said. \u201cJust from the responses and reactions of this body, I am confident that they will do that the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, when asked if she wanted to see this formalized in legislation, Tang said, \u201cThat is up to them.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell them how to do their jobs but I certainly asking for their help and their support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pressed for a position on Tang\u2019s request yesterday, the administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said they were \u201copen\u201d to discuss such measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely pleased with the positive partnership we currently have with the Settlement Fund,\u201d said acting governor Victor Hocog in a statement yesterday. \u201cI find that there is room for the Settlement Fund, the Legislature, and the administration to openly discuss measures to ensure the continued propitious payments to our retirees and survivor beneficiaries. <\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Torres and I commend Secretary Larissa Larson for ensuring payments are made on time, and I look forward to work with the Legislature and the Settlement Fund Trustee Ms. Joyce Tang on continuing this positive partnership,\u201d Hocog added.<\/p>\n

Testy<\/strong><\/p>\n

All appeared well in the presentation yesterday until Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan) aired some concerns of constituents, directing questions to Tang like \u201chow are you spending my money?\u201d \u201chow much are you being paid Ms. Tang?\u201d and expressing concerns that the Fund would up and leave and \u201cdisappear\u201d after liabilities owed\u2014over $700 million when first negotiated\u2014in settlement agreement were paid off the projected depletion date of 2019. <\/p>\n

Igisomar, a former board of trustees chair of the Settlement Fund, also expressed yesterday that a lot of the concerns Tang raised yesterday where concerns he had raised to deaf ears of lawmakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand your personal view but I don\u2019t think you are accurate,\u201d Tang said, in response. \u201cFirst of all\u2026there is no finger to point at. We need to move forward so sitting there complaining about what they could\u2019ve done and what other people have done\u2014is not going to change where we are today.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s look at the facts\u2026There is an obligation for the government to pay that money [75 percent] of pensions. If the minimum annual payments are not paid, then there is a judgment that can be executed on. That means we can go after the general fund. That is not the position that the government\u201d or \u201cthe Settlement Fund want to do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it protects the retirees. You talk about protecting the retirees\u2014that\u2014is protecting, the ultimate protection. Because the retirees\u2014all these years before the formation of the Settlement Fund\u2014had no guarantees, no consent judgment, no one saying this money has priority. No one coming here and saying look, how can we guarantee payments? So it is better for the retirees.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tang challenged Igisomar to go \u201ctake a poll\u201d of the retirees, on the issue and said going forward she was willing to talk to anyone to make sure retirees are protected. \u201cThat has always been my goal\u2026Payment? You want to know how much I get paid? It\u2019s audited by the court. The court reviews it. It\u2019s approved. The court takes four to six months to get paid. That\u2019s not normal. I do this because I like what I am doing. I do this because it is the right thing to do. And that\u2019s the only reason why I do this job. I am happy to work with you, but I want to make sure with you that you understand that I will always put the retirees first. I don\u2019t have a political agenda. I don\u2019t have a personal agenda. And I don\u2019t have any money agenda. You want to bring in a million dollar person\u2026go ahead. Go ahead. That money is better spent for funding the retirees\u2019 pension. But go ahead. I don\u2019t know how you\u2019d justify it, but that\u2019s the government\u2019s money. I want to do my job. I will report to the court. I am always transparent\u2026.all of the information is posted on a website. What we get paid, our budget, how much money gets paid to the retirees? What\u2019s going on with the investment? That is all online. Everything. It\u2019s reviewed and approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me make it very clear today: if you have an issue with my doing my job, I am happy to address it but I will tell you this. I will do everything I can to make sure the retirees get paid. I don\u2019t know about this rumor that once you get paid in 2019 or whatever that we are out of here. That is not the case. That\u2019s when the retirees need us the most. To make sure we stay on top of the government and make sure that 100 percent\u2026because they are a hundred percent dependent at that point for funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need someone like us to make sure that money is being paid because we are going to be pay as you go basis then. So I beg to differ,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Igisomar responded by thanking Tang for not \u201cbeating around the bush\u201d and putting her statement to floor, saying it was what he wanted to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been accused of beating around the bush,\u201d Tang said.<\/p>\n

Reports on the status of the fund, among other reports, are provided regularly at nmisf.com.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions during the presentation, Tang said their audit was completed for the last four to six months but noted her disagreement with their auditors, Ernst and Young, that the assets of the fund were part of the CNMI government.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t make sense, she said, because of the fund\u2019s \u201ccreditor relationship\u201d with government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joyce Tang, trustee of the NMI Settlement Fund, pushed the fund\u2019s interest on lawmakers yesterday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":226128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[8949,11112,733,8928],"class_list":["post-226091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-governor-torres","tag-joyce-tang","tag-settlement-fund","tag-victor-hocog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}