{"id":382704,"date":"2023-01-04T06:02:42","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T20:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=382704"},"modified":"2023-01-04T06:02:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T20:02:42","slug":"peter-assures-all-obligations-will-be-resolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/peter-assures-all-obligations-will-be-resolved\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter assures all obligations will be resolved"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games Organizing Committee chair Marco Peter during the closing ceremonies of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last June 25 at the Oleai Sports Complex. (QUINN BREADY)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games Organizing Committee is assuring vendors and volunteers that they will pay the money owed to them.<\/p>\n

This, after several social media posts showed that a number of volunteers\u2014who weren\u2019t promised monetary compensation in the first place\u2014received checks that bounced when they tried to eventually encash them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll obligations including volunteer reimbursements will be resolved,\u201d said MGOC chair Marco Peter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former lawmaker said the issue on the bounced checks was unfortunate and stemmed from a former MGOC staff encashing a fraudulent check reimbursement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time when the Mini Games account was compromised and we had to hold outstanding checks. We\u2019re working diligently with the Bank of Guam to resolve these outstanding payments which include volunteer reimbursement, such as the $500 check,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That was when Patricia Bermudes Aldan allegedly doctored checks issued by the MGOC and defrauded the organizing committee of $46,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you recall, the fraudulent check reimbursement made by Patricia Aldan is a case that is still ongoing which only magnified the issue of voluntary checks being held,\u201d added Peter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last August, the Department of Public Safety said it was on the hunt for Aldan in connection with the theft of $46,000 from the MGOC.<\/p>\n

According to a DPS news release, the department received a 911 call last Aug. 2 at about 9:43am, about a forgery and theft incident.<\/p>\n

The caller told police that they were reviewing the funds from the Mini Games bank account when they noticed that a payout of $46,027, was made to Aldan. Upon further review, it was found that Aldan was a temporary employee for the MGOC and was originally given a check for $27, for mileage
\nreimbursement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MGOC members stated that the original check amount was changed from $27 to $46,027 with two signatures of its committee members signed on the forged check without their knowledge.<\/p>\n

On the same day, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho signed an arrest warrant for Aldan, but the police were unable to find her. On Aug. 3, 2022, police were able to confirm that Aldan had fled the island in the afternoon of Aug. 2, 2022, on Jeju Airlines with no written final destination.<\/p>\n

A 47-year-old technical official, who wants to remain anonymous, said she had mixed emotions after volunteering in the Mini Games.
\n\u201cI am just grateful to be part of such a monumental event as a volunteer. I wasn\u2019t expecting any compensation as a technical official for the Mini Games. I\u2019m just surprised why volunteers are paid. The check I thought was a gesture of goodwill. Unfortunately, it was false hope,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A 54-year-old volunteer, who also wanted anonymity, said she also didn\u2019t expect to get paid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to support these events, especially triathlon. But because I received a check as an incentive, I thought they were being generous and grateful for the work we put in for the Mini Games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, she said it became more of an insult as other technical officials were able to get their money.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the few of us that received it months later and with no funds it was a slap on the face. We were the few that weren\u2019t on the top of their list. I\u2019ve reached out to the responsible parties, but to no avail. They say when funding is available, then we\u2019ll get our money. I hope it will be soon though,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games Organizing Committee is assuring vendors and volunteers that they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":382680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-382704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382704","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}