{"id":357101,"date":"2021-12-06T06:06:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=357101"},"modified":"2021-12-06T06:06:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T20:06:29","slug":"lottery-commission-yet-to-meet-over-ipi-request-for-5-year-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lottery-commission-yet-to-meet-over-ipi-request-for-5-year-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Lottery Commission yet to meet over IPI request for 5-year extension"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Tao Xing, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC\u2019s senior vice president of Marketing and Public Affairs, answers questions from members of the Commonwealth Casino Commission during a board meeting last week pertaining to IPI\u2019s resubmission last July of its request to the Commonwealth Lottery Commission for a five-year extension on the deadline to finish its Imperial Pacific Resort project in Garapan. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Commonwealth Lottery Commission has yet to meet to talk about Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC\u2019s request last July to be given five more years to finish its Imperial Pacific Resort project in Garapan.<\/p>\n

Tao Xing, IPI senior vice president of Marketing and Public Affairs, told the Commonwealth Casino Commission board members during a meeting last week that once CLC starts its inquiry, that\u2019s when IPI will provide evidence on how they are going to have the money necessary to complete this project, whether it\u2019s going to be a loan facility, guarantee, or credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand what exactly they are looking for,\u201d Xing said.<\/p>\n

CCC executive director Andrew Yeom, however, told Xing that CCC board chairman Edward C. DeLeon Guerrero is basically giving him (Xing) hints that CLC wants IPI to do something and not the other way around.<\/p>\n

Yeom said CLC is waiting for IPI to provide enough information for them to decide what action to take. \u201cYou keep asking they should give you the schedule. It should be the other way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The executive director said IPI should come up with the financial funding plan on where they are going to get the money necessary to complete the IPR project. \u201cThey\u2019re waiting for such information. At this point, they\u2019re perturbed. They don\u2019t know what to do with you because obviously the information that you provided is insufficient,\u201d Yeom told Xing.<\/p>\n

Xing said that once they receive CLC\u2019s inquiry, they will definitely respond.<\/p>\n

Yeom said he does not blame Xing because the latter does not plan IPI\u2019s financial funding status. \u201cAnd you keep referring to Hong Kong (IPI\u2019s mother company) which is true, but please tell them come up with the plan. That\u2019s first and foremost,\u201d Yeom said.<\/p>\n

Xing said they had a plan that they already submitted to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and that if CLC has any question or further inquiry, they will respond.<\/p>\n

CCC vice chair Rafael Demapan said that, based on what he heard during discussions with Xing, it appears to him that both parties\u2014CLC and IPI\u2014are waiting for each other to initiate \u201csomething.\u201d Demapan suggested that Xing follow-up with CLC and request for a hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when there is a date, hopefully by that time, you will have those information. That is very important for them to make a sound decision. But someone has to initiate a meeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Xing agreed.<\/p>\n

IPI is required by the exclusive casino license agreement to complete IPR\u2019s construction by February 2021.<\/p>\n

DeLeon Guerrero said IPI has failed to make that happen, so technically it is in default of the agreement and there should be liquidated damages imposed on IPI. He said IPI\u2019s request for the five-year extension did not provide an attachment to CLC, to Torres, and to the CCC on its financial capability to carry out such a plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s like, are you joking with us? How can you ask us to extend you five years when you have absolutely demonstrated no money at all, not financially suitable,\u201d DeLeon Guerrero said.<\/p>\n

He said IPI should prepare a position statement on how it will finish the project if it has the money. He said it is IPI\u2019s obligation since it is the one in default, not the government.<\/p>\n

DeLeon Guerrero said CLC does not want to hear IPI say it has the money, but wants to see concrete proof that IPI not only has the money but has the money allocated for the purpose of completing IPR.<\/p>\n

The chairman said if they follow Public Law 18-56, IPI is not financially suitable and that\u2019s the whole issue why the company is facing a lot of these sanctions.<\/p>\n

Xing said they will talk to their parent company in Hong Kong to see how they can better provide a picture of their finances to complete the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Lottery Commission has yet to meet to talk about Imperial Pacific International (CNMI)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":357102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[12497,928],"class_list":["post-357101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-ipi","tag-lottery-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357101","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=357101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}