{"id":325425,"date":"2020-06-25T06:03:59","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T20:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=325425"},"modified":"2020-06-25T06:03:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T20:03:59","slug":"ipi-workers-stage-2nd-protest-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/ipi-workers-stage-2nd-protest-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"IPI workers stage 2nd protest rally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC workers stage another protest yesterday in front of the Horiguchi Building in Garapan where the U.S. District Court for the NMI is located. (KRIZEL TUAZON)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scores of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC workers staged another peaceful protest yesterday in front of the Horiguchi Building in Garapan where the federal court is to demand the \u201cunfreezing\u201d of IPI\u2019s payroll bank accounts so they can get paid.<\/p>\n

The workers held a two-hour protest as U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona presided over the start of a bench trial about a mechanic\u2019s lien filed by IPI\u2019s former contractor, U.S.A. Fanter Corp. Ltd. A mechanic\u2019s lien refers to a security interest in the title to property for the benefit of those who have supplied labor or materials that improve the property.<\/p>\n

The protesters\u2019 chants and vehicle\u2019s honks outside the building could be heard in the courtroom faintly as court proceedings were ongoing.<\/p>\n

Colin M. Thompson, who is the lawyer for contractors U.S.A. Fanter Corp. Ltd. and Pacific Rim Land Development LLC, said in a later interview that Manglona did not freeze IPI\u2019s accounts but merely granted Pacific Rim\u2019s writs of execution against some of IPI\u2019s bank accounts. An IPI management official, who requested not be identified, said that this has resulted in the banks putting a hold on IPI\u2019s accounts and IPI workers not being able to cash their paychecks.<\/p>\n

The workers first gathered at IPI\u2019s casino\/resort project in Garapan before proceeding by buses, vans, and other vehicles to the parking lot of Kristo Rai Church in front of the Horiguchi Building shortly before 10am. The trial inside started at 9am. The workers faced the Horiguchi Building and held up placards and streamers that read \u201cOpen up the IPI bank account,\u201d and \u201cWe want to get payed (sic).\u201d<\/p>\n

Bluent Peker, a project manager for the 90-plus Turkish team, said that IPI\u2019s payroll account has money for the workers\u2019 salaries and they don\u2019t understand why the payroll account is frozen.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince one month we are waiting for our salaries,\u201d said Peker, adding that the court should unfreeze the payroll account and give control of this account to the CNMI Department of Labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be involved in other things. Just have a mechanism to make a payment for all the people. We are here to support Saipan. We are here to finish the project for the Saipan people. We are here to increase the tourism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peker said they are protesting because they want the court to hear them. \u201cWhat we want is very clear. Unfreeze our money, we want our salaries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peker pointed out that, while everyone else are staying home, they are working 10 to 11 hours a day, seven 7 days a week, to be able to complete the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are builders,\u201d Peker said, adding that the court and the government should help them. He said that what\u2019s happening now at IPI\u2019s project is they\u2019re only doing cleaning and security work. He said the rainy season is coming and they are trying to prepare the building for that.<\/p>\n

Patrick Hsieh, a Taiwanese carpenter, said all they want is to get paid for their work. Hsieh said they want Manglona to release at least one of IPI\u2019s bank accounts so the workers will get paid regularly and finish the project. Hsieh said some of the Taiwanese workers are leaving the CNMI because of this situation.<\/p>\n

Corrado Modica, an Italian, said there are 30 Italian workers at IPI and that they are upset because although IPI gave them the two paychecks they could not get cash because IPI\u2019s bank accounts are frozen. Modica said their families back home are waiting for the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need assistance from the government here. Just somebody should take action and help us. Because we\u2019re far away from our families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Modica said they feel sad because they never had problems with IPI since they came a year ago.<\/p>\n

Bat-Ochir, a Mongolian, said the only reason why they are protesting is they cannot get paid because IPI\u2019s bank accounts have been frozen. \u201cWhat we\u2019re asking is for the court to help us. Because we are working. The workers need to get paid. In order to get paid, we need IPI bank accounts to be unfrozen,\u201d said Bat-Ochir through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

Bat-Ochir said there are 140 Mongolian workers at IPI. He said they don\u2019t want to be involved with the \u201cclash\u201d between IPI and its contractor. \u201cBecause the workers are not getting paid, they can\u2019t buy their food. \u2026Now we don\u2019t have anything left,\u201d Ochir said.<\/p>\n

He said the construction used to go fast but has now slowed down. \u201cWe\u2019re not blaming the previous contractor or the court, we\u2019re just asking for help that\u2019s going to be fair to everybody,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

IPI senior vice president for security and surveillance Donald Browne said they\u2019re protesting again primarily to get some help in opening up their payroll account so that their workers could be paid their wages. At this point, Browne said, they don\u2019t have a mechanism to get paid because IPI\u2019s payroll account is frozen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scores of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC workers staged another peaceful protest yesterday in front…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":325426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[12497],"class_list":["post-325425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-ipi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325425","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}