MBJ_OCT4_2021.pdf - Marianas Business Journal

The Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership is a coalition of eight Pacific Islands countries, led by the Marshall Islands and Fiji. Other members of the PBSP include Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Its aim is to develop sustainable low-carbon maritime transport for passengers and cargo through a 100% carbon-free maritime transport sec-tor by 2050, with a 40% reduction of greenhouses gas emissions from ship-ping by 2030.

The initiative gained international traction at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, when the late Tony de Brum — then foreign minister of the Marshalls — shepherded through the launch of the agreement to target a 1.5C warming threshold, as well as regular reviews and a long-term climate goal, known as the Paris Agreement.

Joseph “Jerry” Kramer, CEO of Pacific International Inc. has thrown his weight behind the PBSP.

Kramer also accepted a cabi-net appointment to serve on the board of the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport, the initia-

Entrepreneurial endeavorsNew businesses open

The Guam-based U.S. Coast Guard is not only getting an injection of much-needed capital improve-ment funds, but also now has a name that reflects the reality of its essential mission covering thou-sands of miles in the region.

Guam’s 307 active-duty Coast Guard personnel — spread between three fast-response cutters and one buoy tender — will soon be able to take advantage of changes be-ing made at the Naval Base Guam compound.

The Coast Guard force has a search and rescue area of 1.9 million miles, which is “essentially the side of the United States,” according to Capt. Nicholas R. Simmons, its commander.

The area of responsibility reach-es northward towards Japan, over to the east and west from Honolulu to the Philippines, and down to the Federated States of Micronesia in the south.

“It’s a huge area, and we have relatively few assets to complete a mission,” he said.

Simmons — who took command in June — told the Journal two large capital improvement projects are un-derway: a cutter center designed as a secondary location for the officers on Guam’s fast-response cutters; and a reconfiguration to the current com-mand center, to allow for more use

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New name; same gameCoast Guard gets influx of CIP funding

BY MORGAN LEGELJournal Staff

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Flight plansAirline securing financing

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CU Construction is working on the $3.68 million American Grocery supermarket under construction in Maite. American Grocery opened in Yigo on June 18, according to Journal files. The supermarket’s other location is in Dededo.

A new wave Pacific partnership aims to develop carbon free maritime sector

BY MORGAN LEGELJournal Staff

Growing the grocers

PLAIN ENGLISH ................................................2

SAIPAN .....................................................................4

EDITORIAL ............................................................8

OPINION .................................................................8

EDITORIAL CARTOONS...........................8, 9

QUOTABLE ............................................................9

CORPORATE GIVING ..................................14

JAPAN .....................................................................16

MARSHALL ISLANDS .................................19

PALAU ....................................................................20

FOCUS ....................................................................24

CORPORATE GIVING

MILITARY

LEGAL BRIEFS

LEGISLATIVE REVIEW

JAPAN

MARSHALL ISLANDS

DATABANK

BRIEFCASE

FOCUS ..................................................................AA

LETTER TO THE EDITOR .......................AA

Volume 18 No. 21 www.mbjguam.com October 4, 2021 - October 31, 2021

SEE NEW ON PAGE 22

SEE WAVE ON PAGE 29

KramerSimmons

2 October 4, 2021 - October 31, 2021 www.mbjguam.com Marianas Business Journal

One of the reassuring things about living in Guam and visiting the Northern Mariana Islands is that good coffee is available. That’s whether you’re on the road, offered hospitality in many of our islands offices, or adding your favorite beans or mix to the weekly shop. …

But after a Staycation at one of Guam’s resorts I was disappointed (I’m being polite here) to find 3 in 1 sachets in the room. I hope you’re not familiar with the product, but even the branded versions contain between 7% and 17% coffee, about 7 grams of sugar, and a whole lot of contents that have no place in a real brew.

Whereas my coffee can lists only one item under Ingredients: “100% pure coffee.”

And human nature being what it is, while the food at the party I attended at that Guam resort was excellent, and the room had clearly been sanitized with care, when the reception staff asked at checkout if I had enjoyed my stay, what came to mind was the 3 in 1. …

Now I hear that 3 in 1 is being offered to visitors in quarantine in Saipan. Talk about “Abandon hope all ye who en-ter here.”

If you’re a coffee lover, you’ve been warned about what to pack to get you through the five days in Saipan. If you are reading this in Saipan and have a beverage delivery service to the quarantine hotels, let me know and we’ll pass that on.

The enterprising gentleman that told me about the 3 in 1 had a coffee machine delivered (with “the fix-ings” to include a mug and milk) so if you can do that, also let me know. …

In this issue you’ll find a Nomination Form for the 2021 Guam Business Magazine Executive of the Year. A fill-

able version is also on www.guambusinessmagazine.com and www.mbjguam.com. The gala is “locked down” for Saturday, Jan. 15 at the Hyatt Regency Guam.

Earlier this year, instead of appearing at the 2021 gala, the Executives of the Year voted on which non-profits in Guam and Saipan would receive the result of our fundraising efforts. In the January-February 2021 issue, we wrote about the whole cohort of Executives of the Year. We also asked them for their opinions on the economy.

For 2022, we are planning a gala to honor our own — business-people. Whoever takes home the award typically has stories to tell — how and why they got started in the early days, who helped them, and what motivates them.

The 2021 Executive of the Year will possibly have the aura of a survivor to add to that mix, or has contributed in some memorable way since March 2020 to the well-being of our islands.

I know that the list of 2021 nom-

inees will be as dedicated and worth honoring as usual, and I’m hopeful that the gala will be an event to re-member. I can’t wait to get the team together and start planning. …

You’ll also find photos of three events in “Focus” that saw the hosts publicly displaying their confidence to complete what they set out to do. Two of the events are business-relat-ed and are making a commitment not only to Guam but to the villages in which they will do business, as well as to the employees whose live-lihood will depend on them.

The third event is also employ-ment-related and will offer those who took a wrong turn the chance to be trained and contribute to the con-struction industry of the Northern Mariana Islands.

All in all, I’d say this column’s theme is hope. …

— Maureen N. Maratita is the publisher at Glimpses Media. Publications at Glimpses Media include the Marianas Business Journal, MBJ Life, The Real Estate Journal, Guam Business Magazine, Beach Road Magazine, Buenas and Drive Guam.

Abandoning hope, feeling hopeful and having a good time getting the team together

Maureen N. Maratita

PLAINENGLISH

Marianas Business Journal www.mbjguam.com October 4, 2021 - October 31, 2021 3

One Plus Outlet opened in the East-West Business Center on Aug. 28. The store aims to bring to the market super-low-priced items for the home, personal use and those for children among its offerings, especially during the current eco-nomic predicament.

“Everyone we know has had a hard time; lots of people are suffer-ing and have less money,” James Han, One Plus’s owner, told the Journal. “I just wanted to bring in some items at an affordable price so people can still buy necessities and then maybe something extra for their home or themselves.”

With a relatively short turn-over period, the 7,500 square-foot-plus location took less than three months from signing to opening.

“We talked to a landlord for the first time in May, and at that time, the space was planned for a medi-cation or treatment facility, but we waited and it was confirmed to us on June 1.”

Currently, the store has eight em-ployees, but is still hiring more.

Products range from toys, out-door/planting supplies, bento boxes and tumblers, to tech deals, cosmet-ic/personal hygiene items, home décor and clothes, with every other product in between.

One Plus Outlet aims to be uniquely aware of customer needs. “If a customer needs something, and our price is too high for them, I en-courage them to let us know, and we can see if we can bring it down,” Han said. “We want to be flexible and we want our product to be the best price on Guam, with the best quality as well — making it affordable for all of Guam.”

In Northern news, Uptown Pub & Grill’s relocation is complete, with the move to a 2,900-square-foot space directly off Marine Corps Drive in Yigo, a stone’s throw from its previous location. The restaurant opened for takeout on Sept. 2 and for dine-in on Sept. 13.

The previous location was to the rear of Yigo Town Center.

Owner Thomas Reyes said that while the pandemic was the reason for the shift, the move to Mari al-lowed the restaurant better visibility and the opportunity to expand the menu.

“We lost about 20% of customers lost because of hidden previous lo-cation,” he said.

But the relocation and renova-tion of the property has been a long time coming.

Uptown closed its previous location in August 2020, with no op-erations for more than a year until the new location opened in September.

“During the pandemic, it was

hard for us rent-wise and then we weren’t making enough to even pay for overhead at that time,” Reyes said. “So I started working out the lease agreements for this location and researched how we would get over this pandemic hump.”

One way for the restaurant to re-cuperate was to expand the menu and lean more towards the food-side of the business, versus the alcohol-side.

“Just burgers and wings weren’t going to help us,” he said.

Uptown’s new menu is expanded to an a la carte menu, with seven to eight entrees, appetizers, a children’s menu and desserts. The restaurant

Small businesses continue to adapt to pandemic circumstancesBY MORGAN LEGEL

Journal Staff

James Han, owner, recently opened One Plus Outlet in Harmon to help those who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic find a little joy in their everyday.

Photo by Morgan Legel

SEE SMALL ON PAGE 4


Thomas Reyes, Uptown Pub & Grill’s owner, said the pandemic was a “blessing in disguise,” allow-ing him to move locations to a more prominent space and expand the business.

Photo by Morgan Legel

PUERTO RICO, Saipan — With the Biden admin-istration’s target of 50% zero-emis-sions electric vehicles by 2030, it is looking like Coldwell Energy is steering the NMI into the right direction.

C o l d w e l l Energy CEO David Hood recently brought to the island two electric cars — the higher-end Tesla Model X, and the more affordable 2021 Nissan Leaf — as part of his vision

Business investing in renewable energy for the NMI’s future

BY IVA MAURINSaipan Correspondent

also offfers daily specials Monday through Friday.

“There will be more items down the line, plus our menu is still up for being worked on and seeing if we need to add or tweak anything based on feedback from customers,” Reyes said.

Currently, Uptown Pub & Grill has nine employees, and is in the process of hiring more.

Uptown had been at the previous location from June 2018 to August 2020.

In other business news:• The building permit for the new

Jack in the Box location, at the corner of Marine Corps Drive and Jalaguac Way in Tamuning, was approved on Aug. 24, and work on the property has be-

gun. According to Donna Yano, vice president of Jack in the Box Hawaii, the new location should be completed by early summer 2022.

• Island Choice, a bottled-water delivery company, launched Island Choice Grocery, a free grocery and hot dinner delivery service.Delivery is available is-land-wide and same-day if ordered before noon. There are daily deliveries to Northern and central Guam and deliv-eries to southern Guam’s on Wednesdays and Saturdays; additionally, hot dinner de-liveries are offered Monday through Friday, from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.Users can place their order by downloading the Island Choice Grocery app at https://qrcodes.pro/tW1yRU or visiting the Island Choice Grocery website https://www.islandchoicegro-cery.com.

• Vons Chicken has relocated from across the street to the Agana Shopping Center and was set to hold an Oct. 1 soft opening.

• As previously reported, the Ross Dress for Less at Agana Shopping Center is near-ing completion. There is speculation that a Jollibee will be erected where the previous Shirley’s Restaurant stood, in the lot in front of the shopping center, near Taco Bell. Agana Shopping Center’s operations manager, Michael Klepp, de-clined to comment. mbj

SMALLCONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

SEE INVESTING ON PAGE 13

Hood


Top of the list for many business-people aiming to try their hand at a dream business is to open a bar.

Keith J. Stewart decided owning an airline would work. What Stewart told the Journal “began as a joke” has turned into a business plan.

The president of Pacific Rim Constructors Inc. is no stranger to building an organization from scratch and has taken Pacific Rim from a fledgling company to a group with gross revenues in 2019 of $44.04 million, according to the Deloitte & Touche ASC Trust list of the Top Companies in Micronesia in the November-December 2020 issue of Guam Business Magazine.

A strong management team at Pacific Rim has also allowed Stewart to spend time on planning the air-line and securing finance. Marianas Pacific Airlines is wholly independ-ent of Stewart’s other business interests.

“Right now, we’re working to get our first tranche of financing in place,” he said. “We have talked with the [NMI] government,” Stewart said. Those talks have been with the Marianas Public Land Trust, the Commonwealth Economic Development Authority, the Commonwealth Ports Authority and the Marianas Visitors Authority, he said. “We’ve talked to a number of agencies and everyone of them has been in support of what we’re do-ing,” he said, based on the impacts we’ll have in a positive way on the CNMI.” In addition, Stewart said, “We’ve been talking to several on the private side as well.”

The group is well-prepared for work on multiple avenues of fi-nance, he said. “We’ve a bankable finance business plan. It’s extremely detailed — hundreds of pages long and extremely well thought out.”

Talks are also aimed at long term needs, he said. “We’re not looking for just one tranche of funding. We’re going to need to be raising several tranches of funding. Our plan isn’t just to get two 757s and a spare and then call it good. What we’re look-ing to do is to build an airline.” The ultimate aim is to be a regional car-rier, Stewart said, and the timing is optimum.

“There’s probably never been a better time in our lives to do it, be-cause of COVID —because there’s excess capacity out there with air-lines, with crews, with management teams —getting slots at the airports. … It’s an amazing opportunity right now.”

Marianas Pacific will begin with wet leases for its fleet. “Our intention is to be transferring into

ownership,” Stewart said. With wet leases, Marianas Pacific will not initially need a Federal Aviation Administration Air Operator’s Certificate, though the plane will be clearly branded for the airline.

“If you look at the business mod-el of our growth, our growth isn’t only to buy the planes that we are leasing, but to expand,” Stewart said. Marianas Pacific is negotiating with several airlines with available planes, he said.

Initial routes will depend how countries fare with COVID and open and their quarantine processes, Stewart told the Journal. “We don’t

Come fly with me — airline preps for startupBY MAUREEN N. MARATITA

Journal Staff

A rendering of the marine terminal at Echo Dock in Saipan for the

Courtesy of Marianas Pacific Airlines LLC

SEE FLY ON PAGE 7


want to be the first ones out of the gate — flying planes and finding that we have to stop or that there’s prob-lems associated with quarantine — things like that.”

Marianas Pacific aims to remain informed on developments. “We’re going to be working with the [NMI] government to better understand the plans going forward,” Stewart said. “What is optimistic is the num-ber of vaccinated people in Japan and Korea are going up tremendous-ly right now.” The airline will remain flexible, Stewart said.

“The original plan was to open up Japan, Korea and Australia, as well as fly to Guam. Then we’ll also be going to Clark in the Philippines,” he said.

Clark International Airport will be the crew base and where the air-line’s first planes will be maintained, he said. As to the choice of 757s, Stewart said that “757s have got much more cargo space than 737s. You can’t really fly much on a 737, other than passengers.” The larger plane “allows us to get to Sydney and Brisbane in Australia.” The inten-tion is to outsource ground services there, he said.

Flying into Sydney in News South Wales and Brisbane in Queensland, also offers Marianas Pacific proximi-ty to the states of Victoria and South Australia, as well as Tasmania.

Stewart said “59% of the popu-lation lives on the Eastern side of

Australia and their disposable in-come is quite high.” Another plus is a typical 28 days of annual vacation in Australia, he said. The population is familiar with travel to islands and tropical destinations and take vaca-tions of 10 to 14 days.

“It’s going to raise the bar a lot. We think there’s going to need to be more hotels and higher quality ho-tels,” Stewart said.

One advantage of the Marianas Pacific management team, he said is that they are based out of Australia. “They are very familiar with everyone that’s needed within the Australian government tourism side.” A lot of analytics are backing the business plans, he said.

Stewart also anticipates relation-ships with local businesses in the NMI. “Our success is going to be de-pendent on how the hotels perform, how well they take care of the guests we’ll be marketing to and bring in.” The same will be true of restaurants and retail outlets, he said.

Possibly as early as third quar-ter 2022, Marianas Pacific aims to expand to inter-island transport with the introduction of WIGS — a low flying aircraft. That information has generated high interest in the NMI. “We get more questions on the WIGs than we do about the airline,” Stewart said.

Marianas Pacific told the Journal its first order specifications from Universal Hovercraft include two Model 28TT Hoverwing units for op-erations, plus one training unit.

Marianas Pacific Airlines LLC

Routes: Between Saipan and Tokyo/Osaka; Seoul/Busan; Clark Interna-tional Airport/Philippines; Guam and Sydney/Brisbane, with the possibility of adding direct flights to Guam from multiple destinations.

Other future destinations may include Taiwan, Singapore, Hawaii and other smaller islands in Micro-nesia such as Palau, Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei.Fleet: Initially three Boeing 757-

200s, configured with seats for 20 business class/162 economy, with plans to take the fleet to six aircraft. Cargo capacity: More 7,000 tons in the first year of operations, with a total capacity of 14,000 tons per plane per year. Cargo will include fresh meats and seafoods, one- to two-day delivery of replacement parts, medicine and specialty needs.

Freight services will also allow for competitive export of local goods.Passenger load: 140,000 passengers in the first year, with two planes.

Source: Marianas Pacific Airlines LLC

The planes have a carbon-fiber construction/hovercraft base, with a climate-controlled cabin and can carry 12 passengers and a crew of two. The length of 36 feet includes a wingspan of 30 feet, with a cabin width of 102 inches, and can carry a 3,000-pound payload in ground-ef-fect, or a 4,000-pound payload in hovercraft mode.

The units are turbine-powered with a cruise speed of 85 miles per hour, have a range of up to 400 miles and can cruise above the terrain from between three to 16 feet with the capability of rising to between 20 to 25 feet. The airline also has regional manufacturing and distri-bution rights for the WIGs.

Stewart said the pluses of an ad-ditional airline would lift the market.

“What I would hope the public

will see is the economic benefit and what it’s going to do for the islands,” Stewart said. Pre-COVID travel busi-ness into the NMI was primarily group business with low-cost carri-ers and low-cost fares sold outside the islands, he said. “What we’re going to be doing is really looking at the higher spending traveler that will be booking their own air fare, booking hotels and spending the money here, so the tax benefit to the CNMI government is going to be wildly different.”

After researching analyzing multiple industries for potential to create industry growth and jobs, he said, “It all came back to transporta-tion. … That’s what we realized we had to do in order to make the CNMI stable and really be able to deter-mine our own future.” mbj

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There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had devasting effects across the globe. The ongoing pandemic has negatively impacted our health, economies, social relationships, and much more. The threat of serious illness forced humanity to abruptly change the way we lived and as we learned to navigate the new world, we evolved. Our homes are also now our offices, classrooms, and gyms, and phrases like social distancing, lockdowns, and community testing have become common vernacular. And after a year and a half since it all began, we are starting to see a turn. As vaccinations rise, and cases drop, the world is beginning to go back to normal —old normal — and as it does, I cannot help but think about some of the practices, that were adopted because of the

pandemic, that I hope will stay long after it is over.

In an effort to control the spread of the virus and protect our c o m m u n i t y, whilst still s u r v i v i n g t h e m s e l v e s , businesses had to find creative ways to reach their customers. My personal favorite is the regular implementation of curbside pickup. This allows customers to safely pick up their pre-ordered items from participating restaurants, retailers, pharmacies, and more. The idea is not a new one, but because of COVID-19, it became the preferred method to purchase goods and at times, it was the only safe

method. This strategy is not only convenient for the customers, for obvious reasons, but also does not cost the business much more to operate. It’s a win-win that needs to stay in practice.

The other practice that should live on post-pandemic is virtual video conferencing. Platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft Teams have kept us connected through a screen when a physical connection was sadly not an option. The way people have adapted to using these types of software, for numerous situations, has been very impressive and if you have ever attended a virtual rosary or a baby shower, then you know what I am talking about. In a professional setting, virtual video conferencing has helped businesses to continue operations by providing effective alternatives to traditional office

On Sept. 29 a release from the Office of the Governor of Guam reported on findings of the Governor’s Youth Advisory Council – which commendably surveyed more than 1,350 students.

The survey said among its findings that “87.1% of students preferred face-to-face learning compared to 12.9% who preferred online learning.”

Also, “86.6% of students expressed willingness to get vaccinated to attend in-person learning compared to the 13.4% who expressed unwillingness.”

And “78.5% expressed that upperclassmen should be given priority for in-person learning compared to 21.5% who disagreed.”

Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero said in the release, “When [Lt. Governor Joshua F. Tenorio] and I created the Governor’s Youth Advisory Council, we did so to ensure that we heard their voices on youth-centric issues.”

Readers may painfully remember how the Guam Visitors Bureau repeatedly urged businesses to re-open and prepare for the return of tourists and Operation Liberate Guam as the island approached its vaccination of 80% of the population.

A number listened. The Guam Chamber of Commerce

– not for the first time called in mid-September for the return of Guam’s Business Privilege Tax, formerly GRT from 5% to 4%.

“The Gross Receipts Tax increase implemented in 2018 was supposed to be a temporary measure to ensure government operations were not compromised due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” the chamber said.

Sen. Mary C. Torre has authored a bill that received bipartisan support that would permanently increase the revenue threshold, or the figure of gross receipts eligible for 3% BPT, and that will likely receive business support too.

GEDA’s grant program was allocated $27.3 million – a drop in the ocean for what our businesses have lost.

Although the Government of Guam’s fiscal budget lapsed into law, the administration still has not released a comprehensive spending plan for the federal funding it has received.

It’s time to not only listen to the business community, but to act.

Grants are wonderful, but with Guam’s current restrictions, and the pandemic set to keep tourism stifled until 2023, we need a wise long term approach businesses can depend on, not another grant program. mbj

EditorialListening well

Editor’s Note: The following two columns were among about two dozen submitted to the Journal for possible publication and were written by students of the Professional Master of Business Administration program at the University of Guam’s School of Business and Public Administration. John J. Rivera, professor of public administration at the University of Guam, is chairman of the graduate program at the SBPA and this is Cohort 17 of the program.

Midson Tom is a collector at the Bank of Guam. Cynthia R. Cruz is a consumer loan officer with the Coast360 Federal Credit Union.

A second selection of columns from the cohort will be published in the up-coming Journal.

Rivera can be reached at [email protected].

On March 31 the Pohnpei P r o j e c t M a n a g e m e n t Office released a project status report of the $6 million w a t e r l i n e p r o j e c t segment two from Sekere to Nanpei Memorial School in Kitti.

After the completion of the first segment of this project, officials gathered at the College of Micronesia in Palikir to break ground for the second segment of the waterline project back in July 2018.

ABCOR Engineering and Construction Inc, the contractor for the project, reported that the main pipe laying works are all completed as of this year. Excavation of

the water storage tank site foundation system in Pehleng is the remaining activity which is also reported as progressing well. The total cost for this project is $6,300,373.99 and is designed by Lyon Associates Inc. The project involves the construction of a new water line from near the College of Micronesia –FSM to Diadi, Pohnpei. The labor of this project includes demolition, utilities, coordination of all construction activities, and all the related incidentals. The construction requires underground main water line installations, fire hydrant fixtures installations, blow-off valve installations and more. Currently, this is the only ongoing project under the Pohnpei Project Management Office, which also is approximately 87% of completion.

The Pohnpei Project

OpinionBY MIDSON TOM

BY CYNTHIA CRUZ

Pohnpei waterline project proceeding despite COVID delays to materials, labor and more

Things that should stay when COVID-19 goes away

Tom

Cruz

SEE THINGS ON PAGE 10

SEE WATERLINE ON PAGE 10


E d i t o r ’ s Note: Yohance Edwards joined the Ninth Circuit as director of W o r k p l a c e Relations in January 2019. He is the first director of W o r k p l a c e Relations in the federal ju-diciary. He previously was the associate director and deputy Title IX officer in the Office for the Prevention of Discrimination and Harassment at the University of California, Berkeley, where he oversaw the process for resolving complaints of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, national origin, age, gender, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, including allegations of sexual harassment.

Prior to that Edwards was an at-torney at the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, where he was responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination at educational institu-tions receiving federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Other appointments included service as a staff attorney in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and as an associ-ate at the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Edwards holda a bachelor’s of art from Brown University and a juris doctorate from the New York University School of Law. After law school, Edwards clerked for Ninth

Commentary

Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown.Edwards will speak in the le-

gal section of inspiHR 2021, the Guam Society of Human Resources Management’s annual conference, on Oct. 23. Other speakers in that sec-tion will include attorneys Vincent C. Camacho of the Camacho Calvo Law Group, and A. Thomas Sinclair of Calvo Fisher & Jacob. For the first time, the 2021 conference is being co-sponsored by the U.S. District Court of Guam.

The virtual event will also feature speakers Johnny C. Taylor Jr., presi-dent and CEO of the SHRM national organization; Magie Cook, an entre-preneur and motivational speaker; and Milton J. Perkins, an expert in human resources, workforce planning, and human capital management.

For registration and other details, see www.guam.shrm.org.

Q: Why did the 9th Circuit de-cide to create your position?

A: My role is very much a pos-itive byproduct of the #metoo movement. In late 2017, when the #metoo movement was gaining momentum, a Ninth Circuit judge was accused of sexual harassment by a number of former law clerks. The Ninth Circuit leadership re-sponded immediately, not just by initiating proceedings to address the specific allegations, but also by creating a Workplace Environment Committee that was charged with looking broadly at the workplace en-vironment within the Ninth Circuit to figure out where improvements could be made. The Committee re-searched best practices, surveyed 6,000 current and former Ninth Circuit employees and law clerks, and held focus groups throughout the Ninth Circuit to gain an under-standing of employee perspectives. The creation of my position was

one of several significant changes that resulted from those efforts. Employee feedback indicated that they wanted to be able to bring any workplace concerns to someone in-side the judiciary who understood the unique structure and culture of the courts, yet who was outside of their normal chain of command. Accordingly, the Committee created the Director of Workplace Relations position. Now there is someone serving in such a function in every circuit in the country.

Q: It’s been a relatively short time since the 9th Circuit took on the thorny area of workplace relations. Can you say that the court has already seen progress, through precedent-setting opin-ions or cases it has heard?

A: There has been tremendous progress over the last few years. And, while there is still a lot of work to do in this area, the Ninth Circuit leadership has shown incredible commitment to continue the work. That said, I need to clarify that my role is ompletely internal; the direc-tor of Workplace Relations is not involved at all in cases that come before the courts. Rather, I sup-port the 63 court units in the nine states and two territories in the Ninth Circuit in how they address workplace relations issues inter-nally, amongst their workforce. The units I support include the court of appeals, district courts, bankrupt-cy courts, pretrial and probation offices and federal public defend-er offices. The workforce includes everyone from judges and unit ex-ecutives, law clerks, career staff, and unpaid interns.

In that context, the term “Workplace Relations” encom-passes the general premise of how people interact with one another in the workplace, and the expecta-

tion that they interact in a dignified manner, with civility and respect, including across personal differenc-es. Included within that umbrella is the expectation that individuals will not commit prohibited misconduct, like harassment, discrimination, abusive conduct and retaliation.

Accordingly, while I do not agree with the notion that the judici-ary has only recently taken on the “thorny area of workplace rela-tions,” I do agree that it has been a short time since the judiciary has redoubled its efforts in this area and emphasized its importance. The judiciary has long had policies addressing harassment, discrimina-tion and retaliation. What is new, is the express prohibition of abusive conduct since 2019 and the crea-tion of a more robust infrastructure for reporting and resolving com-plaints, and additional training and proactive preventative measures.

As I said at the beginning of this response, there has been tremen-dous progress, but because this work is focused on the Ninth Circuit as a workplace, and harassment, abusive conduct and discrimina-tion are highly sensitive topics that are typically handled confidentially, much of the progress is not visi-ble to the public. That said, from my vantage point, there are a few markers of progress that immedi-ately come to mind. These include numerous issues that have been handled swiftly, to the satisfaction of those who have been impacted, leadership regularly seeks guidance from my office on proactively han-dling issues before they escalate, and employees coming forward on issues they have acknowledged they would not have brought for-ward in the past. This is reflected in

Q & A

Edwards

Quotable

“We already have more than 4,000 reservations for the next three

months waiting to be confirmed.”

— Brian Shin, CEO of Micronesia Resort Inc., a subsidiary of E-Land Group, which does business in the Northern Mariana Islands as Kensington Hotel, Pacific Islands Club and Coral Ocean Golf Resort.

He was talking about the Korean visitor market “bubble,” which launched through the Tourism Resumption Investment Plan or TRIP, a “program to provide subsidies to airlines, hotels, travel agencies, and related businesses to help jumpstart tourism.” Shin is a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, which submitted his comments on the TRIP to the Journal. Airlines with less than a 40% passenger load receive subsidies, according to Journal files.

SEE Q&A ON PAGE 30


Management Office manages numerous projects funded by the Compact of Free Association infrastructure funding, administered by the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. Because the funding comes from the amended compact, it is the Pohnpei Project Management Office’s responsibility to deliver amended projects. Various projects involve infrastructures primarily focusing on school buildings, healthcare facilities, and water supply lines.

There are several newly approved and assigned projects

such as the construction of a new two-story library/classroom facility at the PICS campus in Kolonia which is designed by Leo A Daly. An approved project at the PICS campus in Kolonia will involve the design and construction of new prototype Social Studies and English buildings, a ramp for disabled access, and a bus drop-off point. This project is designed by TG Engineers of Guam. Another approved project comprises the design and construction of a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facility. This one-story facility is designed by Pryzm LLC. Currently, these projects are approved to go under the bidding process therefore there is currently

no total cost report yet. One of the recent challenges

Pohnpei Project Management Office faces is providing the exact timeframe or duration of the amended projects. Other than the ongoing project of the waterline, no projects have been bid out yet, or are still in the process of being bid out therefore it is difficult for the office to provide the exact time frames of the projects.

According to one of the project managers, Mr. Dayn Yamada Iehsi, “Due to COVID-19 restrictions in the FSM, it is difficult to bring in contractors, labor, equipment, and materials.”

This raises challenges and slows down the process of the

projects. The significant impacts of COVID-19 were sensitive to the projects. The ongoing waterline project was also heavily affected. The progress report in March said that COVID-19 has also contributed greatly to delaying the project, due to extended times to receive project materials. The established date of completion reported in 2018 was two years, but despite the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project is close to completion. mbj

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arrangements. At the height of the pandemic, in many organizations, Zoom replaced company-wide meetings, new product trainings, and even celebratory occasions, like the annual Christmas party.

Virtual video conferences have also been a great tool for human resources professionals. A friend of mine recently started a new job. She shared how she was onboarded virtually and actually preferred the experience more than the conventional process. For her, the process was more streamlined compared to having a large group go into a classroom setting and spend the entire day there watching training videos. With Zoom, they did fun virtual activities and used the breakout feature to split into smaller groups. She also found that being in the comfort of home helped ease what can be a stressful transition of meeting new people and starting a new job.

COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, but as scientists and healthcare professionals develop more ways to combat the virus, things will slowly revert to the way they were before, but I hope that it never does fully. Through the peril, the opportunity to imagine, create, and grow has risen. The time for change may have been imposed, but many good things have come of it, like curbside pickup and virtual video conferences, to name a very few. Let us not leave these things behind, but continue to develop these practices and improve our lifestyles and operations for the future. mbj

WATERLINECONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

THINGSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 8


to get the NMI to adopt a more re-newable and sustainable transport technology.

“It's an investment in the future of this island,” Hood told the Journal. “It is a good one, because if we can start steering some people into more renewables, that just will take off like it did in California.”

Hood’s family runs Coldwell Solar Inc. in California, which he brought to and incorporated in the NMI as Coldwell Energy. California is the top renewable energy pro-ducer in the country, and despite having energy-intensive industries, has one of the lowest per capita energy consumption levels in the nation, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

For Hood, Saipan is the “perfect place” for electric cars, given its size. With the island just about 12 miles long and six miles wide, and with a fully-charged Tesla going for 220 miles, one full charge could literally go a long way around the island.

“The reason it is so good here is because we are in kind of a fishbowl. We don't have far to go. When you have an electric car, the chances of you running out of power [here] are pretty low. Even though it seems like it is the last place that we are going to get electric cars, it is the perfect place to do it,” he said.

Powering the electric cars is more like “plug and play.” Hood likened charging the electric car to charging a mobile phone, adding that it can be plugged into any 110 outlet, or a 220-dryer outlet, and that charging depends on how far a person wants to go.

“The Tesla was completely emp-tied and it took about a little over six hours, with 220 to charge it at night... It's no different than charging your phone, to be honest. You do that every day. It charges about a mile every two minutes. If you needed just a couple of miles, in five min-utes, you'd be ready to go,” he said.

Coldwell Energy is currently in a testing phase. The cars will be driv-en for a couple of months to test the meters to acquire data, as well as to get information on the upsides and downsides of running electric cars on island. Prototypes for the charg-ing stations are currently being built in California, which they intend to install in early 2022.

“We need some infrastructure, but for the most part, people will do this at their convenience at home,” Hood said. “I'm not really interested in being a [car] dealer, but I want to help build the infrastructure.”

The infrastructure consists of emergency charging stations and solar-powered charging stations that will be situated in a few select loca-tions on island.

INVESTINGCONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Coldwell Energy CEO David Hood with the Tesla Model X, one of the two electric cars he brought to the Northern Mariana Islands as part of his vision to get the islands to adopt a more renewable and sustainable transport technology.

Photo courtesy of David H

ood

SEE INVESTING ON PAGE 17


Photo courtesy of Atkins Kroll Inc.Photo courtesy of N

aval Base Guam

Atkins Kroll Inc. donated $1,914 to the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross of Guam, through its Community Matters program. Pictured at the AK showroom on Sept. 21 are (from left) Tom Mazzei, sales direc-tor; Trina Cruz, marketing and communications director, both from AK; Chita A. Blaise, executive director of the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross Eduardo R. Ilao, president of JMI-Edison and board member of the Guam Chapter; and Ernie Galito, director of business development at AK.

The U.S. Naval Base Guam Chaplain’s office, along with sailors from U.S. Naval Hospital Guam delivered nearly 2,000 pounds of food items and paper products to the Kamalen Karidat soup kitchen in Hagåtña.

The food items were collected through the 2021 Feds Feed Families Campaign, which ran from June 1 to Aug. 31.

Corporate GivingPhoto courtesy of the Tan Siu Lin Foundation

The Tan Siu Lin Foundation coordinated donations of $20,894 for its “Field of Heroes: We Will Never Forget,” a Northern Mariana Islands-wide commemoration event for 9/11.

The initiative was supported by Heritage Sponsor J.C. Tenorio Enterprises; field sponsors National Park Service/American Memorial Park, Office of the Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan, and Office of the Mayor of Rota; Star and Stripes sponsors E-Land Group, D&Q, IT&E, Hotel Valentino, GPPC, Triple J Enterprises Inc., TakeCare Insurance, and the Marianas Variety; and Patron Sponsors Docomo Pacific, Shirley’s Coffee Shop, McDonald’s, MARPAC, and First Hawaiian Bank. Other sponsors included JET Holdings, City Trust Bank, Pacific Trading Co., Hyatt Regency Saipan, and the Hardt Eye Clinic.

(From left) Catherine Attao-Toves, vice president for corporate affairs and human re-sources at Tan Holdings; Lee B. Tenorio, executive director of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, and board member of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council; Merlie Tolentino, executive director of the Tan Siu Lin Foundation; Tracy Guerrero, corporate controller for Triple J Saipan and chairperson of the Humanities Council; Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres, Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, and Jerry Tan, CEO of Tan Holdings.

The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands do-nated $12,750 to the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022.

IT&E is the title sponsor of the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation, and will sponsor the five divisions of the 2021 to 2022 season.

Jamaican Grill restaurants at the Hagatna, Dededo and Tamuning locations offered a com-plimentary dine-in service meal to local and military first respond-ers – to include police officers, firefighters and paramedics to commemorate the events of 9/11.

The Filipino Ladies Association of Guam awarded $500 scholar-ships to two University of Guam students studying chemistry.

Triple J Saipan executives, man-agement, staff and friends and family participated in the 2021 International Coastal cleanup in

SEE CORPORATE ON PAGE 23


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than 80%t of the population have now had a first dose and more than 64% of the public is fully vaccinated. Health authorities are now making plans to deliver booster shots to the elderly and others considered to be most at risk of contracting the virus.

For the tourism industry, the hope is that a sixth wave does not materialize or, if it does, that it is far smaller and briefer than previous spikes. If that is the case, then Japan might be able to reopen to interna-tional tourists late this year or in the early part of 2022.

The Japan National Tourism Organization is confident it will be able to swiftly win back the millions of travelers who have not been able to visit the country as a result of the pandemic and is convinced, along with the broader tourist industry, that the target of 60 million annual visitors by 2030 set by the national government before the health crisis can still be achieved.

“Our target audience is the world and when Japan is able to open up to the rest of the world, then I hope potential travelers will want to come to Japan,” said Kyoji Kuramochi, who was earlier this year appointed exec-utive vice president of the JNTO.

“The government set a strategy in 2016 of 40 million arrivals in 2020 and 60 million in 2030 and that has not changed,” he said. “I believe we can achieve that number if we make the effort.”

It is an ambitious number given the plummeting figures for inbound tourists. A mere 25,900 foreigners arrived in Japan in August, down 99 per cent from the same month in 2019, before the pandemic. And that figure was triple the number from 2020 as it was dramatically boosted by arrivals for the Paralympics.

Of the total, around 3,000 were from the United States, 2,400 arrived from China and some 1,800 came from France.

“In the five or six years before the pandemic, we saw a very sharp increase in the number of inbound visitors, but that stopped because of the health crisis, so we used that time to take stock of the direction that we should take now,” he said. “We now want to make sure that

tourists are able to go to local areas around the country and discover their beauty.”

Another key element of the mes-sage is the measures that hotels, restaurants and other locations that cater to foreign tourists are taking to ensure that their visit is safe and goes off without any hitches, he added.

The travel industry is largely in step with the JNTO’s efforts, accord-ing to Hiroshi Sawabe, who acts as an adviser to the Japan Association of Travel Agents, and sees China, South Korea, Taiwan and the na-tions of south-east Asia as the most immediate source of inbound tour-ists as soon as the borders are once again open.

“These markets accounted for more than 75% of the total inbound Japan travel before the pandem-ic and I believe it will be relatively easy to let nearby countries know about the recovery in the Japanese tourism sector, especially from the viewpoints of health and hygiene,” he said.

The last 18 months have under-lined to the industry the importance of collaboration and coordination at a time of crisis, he said, as well as the growing need for partnerships, firm government support and the mes-sage that health and hygiene are the “new normal.”

Some sectors are more reserved in their outlook, however, with Naoya Kaminaga, a spokesman for Japan Airlines’ LCC subsidiary ZIPAIR, insisting that a recovery is going to take time.

“We are completely dependent on the government for a decision on the full reopening of the borders and the wider acceptance and issuance of vaccine passports,” he told the Journal.

“It is positive that the govern-ment has reduced the quarantine requirements and we see that as a step in the right direction for the industry, but it will take time for air travel to return to what it was,” he said. “We are seeing a recovery in the domestic air travel market, but we cannot put a date on when that recovery might happen for interna-tional air travel.”. mbj

ZIPAIR Tokyo Inc. is the Low-Cost Carrier of Japan Airlines headquartered at Narita Airport in Tokyo.

Photo courtesy of Wikim

edia

T O K Y O —Japan per-mitted its latest state-of -emer-gency to expire at midnight on Sept. 30, permit-ting the public to travel more freely and bars, restaurants and nightlife venues to extend their opening hours and begin to return to normality.

In parallel, the Japanese gov-ernment is relaxing its quarantine restrictions on anyone arriving from overseas – although the travel indus-try admits it will “take time” before inbound tourism recovers fully.

In response to falling domestic infection rates, the Japanese gov-ernment announced on Sept. 27 it would reduce the quarantine peri-od for anyone entering the country with a coronavirus vaccination cer-tificate from 14 days to 10 days. Only travelers inoculated with Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines are eligible and a “vaccine passport” either issued by Japan or recognized

by Japan is required. The new regulations go into ef-

fect Oct. 1 and no longer require new arrivals to quarantine for the first three days after their arrival in a government-approved hotel and be negative in daily coronavirus tests. Under the previous rules, new arrivals were then permitted to re-turn to their own homes and remain isolated for a further 11 days, with immigration officials able to check on their whereabouts through a mo-bile phone app.

Travelers from nine countries that still have elevated rates of in-fection — Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, Brazil, Venezuela and Peru — are now required to remain in designated ho-tels for six days and then self-isolate at their homes until 14 days from their arrival have passed.

Japan reported 1,986 new coro-navirus cases on Sept. 29, below the 2,000-case threshold for a third con-secutive day and significantly lower than the more than 26,000 new cas-es that were being reported daily as recently as the peak of the fifth wave of the illness in August.

Figures have been brought un-der control thanks in large part to the roll-out of the vaccine — more

Japan takes steps towards more visitor-friendly destination and tourism recoveryBY JULIAN RYALL

Japan Correspondent

Kuramochi


Hood also clarified that not only is he not interested in car dealer-ship — since Joeten Motors already carries Nissan — but that he also is not trying to “take away from fuel companies.”

“That's not going to happen; there's always going to be cars that require fuel. This is just a venue to help become a little more sustain-able. My intent is to help you have more options… I'm not taking any-thing away from the fuel companies

but what I am doing is making you a little more energy independent. And I think that's power.”

While the electric cars seem ex-pensive now — with the Tesla Model X starting at almost $80,000 and the 2021 Nissan Leaf at more than $30,000 — the 2022 Nissan Leaf is priced from $27,400, apparently making it the cheapest electric vehi-cle for sale in the U.S.

The cost of maintenance should be less too, according to Hood, as there will be no oil changes, and less maintenance than is normally as-sociated with fossil fuel engine and

combustion. The potential for suc-cess in the NMI is there, he said.

“This is that next step into a seri-ous effort to clean the air, and try to be a little more sustainable. ... If it's going to cost you more, people prob-ably won't do it. But if it's gonna cost you less, I think you're gonna have people go, ‘Wow, so I can drive this electric car and the fuel is going to be less expensive, even if I plug into the CUC,’” he said.

With a successful business in re-newable energy in California, Hood told the Journal that rather than “just retire” in the NMI, he intends to

keep working on sustainability and renewables for the rest of his life.

“I think this is a great place to do it. I love the people here. So, my mes-sage to the people is, let me help you with sustainability. Energy independ-ence is really an important thing. I think if we can show people some different pathways, they will appreci-ate that. It will move all these along.”

For more information on renew-able energy, contact Coldwell Energy at (670) 322-2653, or visit its office at the MH1 Building in Puerto Rico, Saipan. mbj

INVESTINGCONTINUED FROM PAGE 13


A Pacific International Inc. crew works on a portion of the newly landfilled section of reef in Majuro that will be a sports park with a track and field and baseball diamond. The sports park is for the July 2022 Micronesian Games that the Marshall Islands is hosting.

Photo by Wilm

er Joel

M A J U R O , Marshall Islands — Pacific I n t e r n a t i o n a l Inc. — the big-gest contractor in the Marshall Islands — is in an increasingly problematic sit-uation because of its inability to bring in skilled workers for numerous construction projects.

As deadlines loom, particular-ly for Micronesian Games sports facilities, PII is handcuffed by two problems that relate to the Marshall Islands ongoing border controls to prevent the entry of COVID-19: It cannot bring in the skilled workers it needs for specialized work on sports facilities and the Hawaii engineering firm Pryzm Consulting cannot send engineers in to review national gym-nasium construction for decisions to be made that impact next stages of the renovation.

Kenneth Kramer, operations manager at PII, said at the end of September that if the borders were open, PII would bring in 50 skilled workers for multiple projects on Majuro and Ebeye.

With borders closed for more

Skilled worker shortage hits PII, other businessesBY GIFF JOHNSON

Marshall Islands Correspondent

than 18 months, many businesses are in urgent need of workers with skills that are not available locally. Many are requesting to bring work-ers into the country through the government-managed repatriation process, which for the past year has brought in a group of about 60 peo-ple each month through managed quarantine.

Government officials said they are looking to focus more on busi-ness needs in repatriation groups later this year after completing the repatriation of stranded citizens who had left the country for medi-cal care or other reasons, and were caught up in the COVID border lock-down and unable to return home.

“Construction jobs are being de-layed by manpower and materials,” Kramer said. He noted that PII’s suppliers are warning them of ma-jor delays in getting construction materials as orders are backing up due to Covid-related supply chain problems in the U.S. mainland and elsewhere.

A project to upgrade the Latter-Day Saints Church on Ebeye is facing a six-month delay as a result of both issues, Kramer said.

While work overall is on sched-ule for the two largest Micronesian Games facilities — the track and field and the national gym — there is specialized work needed for the track, for which PII is attempting

to bring in two construction work-ers with expertise in installing the rubberized flooring/matting of the international-standard track field. The Micronesian Games are sched-uled for late July 2022.

But the earliest they can arrive may be late November, a date that depends on when repatriation groups are scheduled, and on gov-ernment approval of workers to be in one of these groups. Currently, the Marshall Islands requires a one-week quarantine in Honolulu followed by a two-week quarantine in government-managed facilities in either Majuro or Kwajalein, with

Anjain-Maddison

SEE SKILLED ON PAGE 21


KOROR, Palau — President Surangel S. Whipps signed into law on Sept. 29 the unified national budget to fund govern-ment operations and other obliga-tions for the next 12 months. The budget author-ized $93,433,000 and appropriates $85,154,000 for fiscal 2022.

“Although the bill may not be 100% as you wanted, we operate on the premise that if we can agree on 90% of it, then let’s go ahead and agree,” Whipps said.

Earlier in the week of Sept. 27, the budget bill was at risk of being unbalanced, due to the uncertainty about the passage of the tax reform bill, which Whipps also signed on Sept. 29.

Minister of Finance Kaleb Udui Jr. in his letter to Whipps the pri-or week, said the “increased levels of appropriation cannot be sus-tainably supported unless certain

actions are undertaken. One of those immediate actions would in-clude passing the Tax Reform bill.”

Udui said without the tax reform being approved, the overall budget would be reduced by 18%.

But Congress finally passed the tax reform, with Whipps thanking the lawmakers for their immediate action on the budget.

“During this time of COVId-19 recovery, the republic is continuing to meet the needs of the Palauan people through the funding of vital government services. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Olbiil Era Kelulau in retaining a conserv-ative budget and maximizing the resources available,” Whipps said.

He also lauded the lawmakers for allocating $593,000 for the pro-curement of textbooks supplies and institutional equipment, more than double the budget previously allocated in fiscal 2021.

The budget also appropri-ated $800,000 for the National Coordinating Mechanism for Noncommunicable diseases, which the president said will support community-based initiatives.

A further appropriation was for the consultant for Palau’s upcom-ing Compact review negotiations, which was $650,000. mbj

Palau’s fiscal 2022 budget passes with money for schoolbooks and COFA consultant

BY BERNADETTE H. CARREONPalau Correspondent

President Surangel S. Whipps signed new tax legislation into law on Sept. 29

Contributed photo

KOROR, Palau President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. signed into law on Sept. 29 a comprehensive tax system that will take full effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

The first tax reform since the trust territory days to fund gov-ernment operations and other obligations.

The new law or the value-added tax regime, otherwise known as the Palau Goods and Services Tax will

replace the Gross Revenue Tax that the nation has been using for more than 30 years.

The signing ceremony was con-ducted during the Mechesil Belau Women’s Conference and President Whipps said that the PGST is re-quired to access the last tranche of $15 million from the Asian Development Bank’s policy-based loan to the Palau government, among other reasons.

“More importantly, we need to update our tax regime to meet the

Palau VAT and tax system will replace GRT in January 2023

SEE VAT ON PAGE 21Whipps

BY BERNADETTE H. CARREONPalau Correspondent


challenges of today’s economic re-alities,” Whipps said in his address before sitting down to sign the bill.

He thanked the House of Delegates for working until 2 a.m. on Sept. 29 to pass the legislation.

The 109-page bill has been pending in the House despite the Senate's passage of the bill in August.

Whipps said the law is just the start of the long work ahead to in-form and educate the business

sector and the general public to ready themselves for the transition process.

The law will implement a 10% PGST tax, replacing the GRT tax which imposes 4% tax on the gross sales. The difference this time is the taxation process starts at the port.

Under the new law, all business-es /taxpayers with annual revenue of more than $300,000 will pay the Palau Goods and Services Tax and Business Profit Tax. Businesses with annual revenue of more than $50,000 but less than $300,000 will pay 4% GRT or the same tax as is

collected currently. Businesses with less than $50,000 in annual reve-nue will pay $25 per quarter in tax.

The Business Profit Tax is set at 12% and banks will be taxed 20% BPT. All businesses currently pay 4% Gross Revenue Tax or tax paid on gross sales.

In addition, under the new re-gime, no tax is assessed on exports, fixed capital, or investment goods.

Legislation also changed the in-come tax rate to 10% for salaries ranging from $8,000 to $50,000 per year. A 6% wage and salary tax will be assessed on anyone making up

to $8,000 a year, but this tax will be returned 100% to any Palauan who made $10,000 or less.

Anyone making $50,000 or more will be taxed 12%.

This proposed tax regime is ex-pected to support Palau’s economic growth while ensuring that people are not unnecessarily burdened by taxes.

The legislation is one of the re-quirements of the concessionary loans that Palau is receiving from the Asian Development Bank dur-ing the pandemic. mbj

multiple Covid tests prior to release.Kramer said that aside from

achieving completion of the track by the scheduled July date of the Games next year, PII’s aim has been to get the track finished so that local athletes preparing for the Games can be working out on the track. “The athletes need to be trained on what they’re going to compete on,” he said.

Pryzm is the Hawaii firm desig-nated to engineering for the national gym work. The inability of its engi-neers to get into Marshall Islands is holding up next steps for the reno-vation, Kramer said. A key issue is

location of conduits that must be installed prior to pouring cement. “Pryzm engineers cannot come in to check this,” he said. “It’s delayed us.”

Further complicating PII’s per-sonnel situation, said Kramer, is that many of the company’s skilled workers have already extended their stay for up to two years and are now long overdue to return home to their families in the Philippines. Some of PII’s skilled workforce had returned home for vacations prior to the border closure in March 2020 and have been unable to return to work here. Others, who have not taken vacations for years, would like to return home and then come back to Marshall Islands to contin-ue working — but cannot, given the

challenge of entry for the foreseea-ble future.

“There are many requests not only from PII, but from the private sector as a whole,” said Marshall Islands Deputy Chief Secretary Abacca Anjain-Maddison in re-sponse to questions about private sector labor needs.

One of the challenges facing the government’s repatriation program is that the U.S. Army, which runs the missile testing range at Kwajalein Atoll, will be closing the Kwaj Lodge for renovation at the end of October. This will eliminate the primary fa-cility used by the Marshall Islands since October 2020 for monthly repatriation groups numbering gen-erally between 50 and 75.

“With the limited rooms due to the closure of Kwaj Lodge at the end of October the Repatriation Working Group is faced with many challenges,” Anjain-Maddison said. “However, we will try our best to manage to accommodate all re-quests including the skilled workers PII requested (in repatriation groups later this year).”

Anjain-Maddison said a group arriving in October “will consist of the last Marshallese citizens on the original stranded list. We wanted to take care of this group before we can focus on private sector essential workers including government con-sultants and contractors.” mbj

VATCONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

SKILLEDCONTINUED FROM PAGE 19


The Myrtle Hazard — pictured in dry dock during training — will be one of the ships whose personnel are able to use the new fast-response cutter homeport.

Journal file photo

by more personnel, at a cost of more than $424,000.

The cutter center is aptly named the Cmdr. Skinner Building after Gov. Carlton Skinner, who was not only Guam’s first civilian governor, but also served as a Coast Guard of-ficer in World War II. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia and Sector Guam was renamed from Coast Guard Sector Guam in July.

“Along with the contract with the three new FRCs that came out here, we were provided procurement funding to construct a new build-ing for them,” he said. The three cutters – the USCGC Oliver Henry, the USCGC Myrtle Hazard and the USCGC Frederik Hatch added about 70 personnel plus their family mem-bers to the Coast Guard and brought the latest technology along with them, at an investment of about $123 million for the three cutters.

(See “Island to see new Coast Guard ships before the end of 2020,” in the May 11, 2020, issue of the Journal and “Home for the holidays: Second CG cutter set for Guam; third in training,” in the Nov 2, 2020, issue of the Journal.)

The new two-floor building, for which the Coast Guard broke ground in July 2019, is planned to be fin-ished in April or May 2022. When completed, the building will occupy

more than 11,000 square feet. The new building is being constructed by Gilbane Building Co.

“The building is going to house office space for the cutter crews,” he said. “One of the big things is that the cutter crews don’t have any space off the ship, so the officers are doing all of their day-to-day business from their rooms and computers on the ship. This will provide them a space to get away from the cutter and be able to be in the same space as other officers.”

The Skinner Building will also act as a surge location for off-island personnel who come for support and various missions. These sup-port teams are housed in containers

within the compound when they visit, as of now.

“We’re making do, as you would with any ship,” Simmons said. “Containers are better than noth-ing, but there’s only so far you can go with a 40-foot container. The new building will provide a lot of continuity.”

The other “ongoing” project, the command center reconfiguration, is still in the conceptualization phase.

“The bottom line is we’ve grown the number of assigned personnel here to do command center opera-tions, and people need to work in a secure space,” the captain said. “The current center was constructed in the mid-80s, and we’re moving to-

wards reconfiguring that space.”When finished, the command

center will also have a larger foot-print of roughly 300 square feet, which Simmons estimates to be a 25% increase from the current space.

One problem with the current command center is that a lot of per-sonnel are sharing desks and work areas, and those who require clas-sified material for their job do not have the access they need.

It is important to note that the compound is separated, with cypher locks on the outside of each office, facing outdoors, rather than con-joined inside a building.

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the Northern Mariana Islands, from behind Sandy Beach Homes along the beach front past Surf Club Restaurant.

About 50 Air Force person-nel from the2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana collected trash during a cleanup at Tanguisson Beach.

Representatives from the USS Michael Murphy and Naval Base Guam donated toiletries to Guam’s Child Protective Services through the Kate Thomas Foundation. Items included shampoo, tooth-paste, toothbrushes, slippers, and pillowcases. The Kate Thomas Foundation was founded by Kathleen Thomas Benavente and supports local foster children and families.

The Guam Chamber of Commerce announced the launch of its Toys for Tots program in part-nership with Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz.

Collection dates are from Oct. 4 to Dec. 10 and gifts can be delivered to Atkins Kroll Inc., BankPacific (all branches), Burger King (Hagåtña & Tumon Bay Restaurants), Cars Plus/

Photo By Sgt. Marvin Lopez N

avarro, U.S. M

arine Corps

U.S. Marine Corps personnel of Task Force Koa Moana 21, I (pro-nounced “first”) Marine Expeditionary Force replaced bathrooms roofing at Koror’s Palau High School and fixed damage to concrete staircases, caused by environmental conditions and time.

Engineers with the task force also extended an existing concrete pad at the Palau Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Station with 20 by 30 foot sectioned-off pads, which will serve as a larger staging area for containers donated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Harley Davidson (Maite), Deloitte & Touche (Tamuning), the Guam Chamber of Commerce (Hagåtña), Paradise Auto Spa/ East Island

Tinting (East Hagåtña), Triple J Enterprises (Upper Tumon), and Triple J Honda (Tamuning). mbj

Additionally, the renovation will include a bunk room for those on duty and/or watch.

“Part of my vision is to have that bunk room inside the command center, so they’re not separated and it’s more efficient and simpler,” Simmons said.

While this is the short-term solution for a better working re-lationship between personnel, Simmons, who took the helm of the command within the last few months, believes there are other needs to be met in the future.

“We’re looking long-term at do-ing something different with the entire footprint of the compound,” he said. “A consolidated sector build-ing without it all being separate.”

Coast Guard Forces Micronesia also fosters liaison relationships with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the FSM. The Coast Guard typically performs high seas fisheries board-ings in the Pacific and Micronesia, to determine and apprehend vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (or IUU) fishing.

“The only external footprint we have is up in Saipan, where we have a Marine Safety Detachment, with a Coast Guard Lieutenant and five or six guys out there,” Simmons said. “They primarily do vessel inspections.” mbj

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24 October 4, 2021 - October 31, 2021 www.mbjguam.com Marianas Business JournalFocusmbjguam.com

Coast360 Federal Credit Union held a groundbreaking on Sept. 17 for its new Tamuning branch. At the groundbreaking were (from left) Arthur Mariano, board treasurer; Peter Roy Martinez, vice chairman of the board; Thomas Chang, president and general manager of Join Corp.; Michael B. Makio, managing principal of Taniguchi Ruth Makio Architects; Angelita Mendiola, board member; Speaker Therese M. Terlaje of the 36th Guam Legislature; Paul Leon Guerrero, chairman of the board; Lt. Governor Joshua F. Tenorio; Mayor Louise Rivera of Tamuning/Tumon/Harmon; Stephen Guerrero, chairman of the Supervisory Committee; Monica L. Pido, chief operations officer; Elizabeth Chaco, manager of the Tamuning Member Center; both from the Coast360 management team; Michael Quinata, board member; and Gener F. Deliquina, CEO of Coast360.

Jamaican Grill hosted a ribbon cutting on Sept. 22 for the opening of its restaurant in Mangilao. Attending were (from (left) Joung pyo Hong, owner, SNL LLC and landlord to Jamaican Grill; Ariel Dimalanta, owner and graphic artist, Ariel and Co.; Michael Owen Baluyut, owner, Isagani B. Baluyut Construction; Benedict J.K. Coronel, architect, GUMA Architects LLC; Mayor Allan R.G. Ungacta of Mangilao; Frank Kenney, co-owner, Jamaican Grill; Timothy Murphy, co-owner, Jamaican Grill, and The Jerkman.

Joining the ribbon-cutting on Sept. 7 for the Northern Marianas Technical Institute’s newly-established Financial Aid Office are (from left) Kimo Rosario, program manager for the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.; Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Mario Valentino, construction operations manager/senior superintendent, Triple J Enterprises and chairman of the NMTI board of trustees; Rep. Leila Staffler of the 22nd Northern Mariana Islands Legislature; Easton Dela Cruz, senator in the NMI Youth Congress; Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres, NMHC corporate director Jesse Palacios, corporate director of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.; and NMTI CEO Jodina Attao, CEO of the NMTI.

Photo courtesy of the Offi

ce of the Governor

Photo by Justin Green

Photo by Justin Green


tive of the Marshall Islands and the University of the South Pacific that aims achieve the transport emis-sions reduction targets set under the Paris Agreement. The initiative to establish the MCST was endorsed by the 15th Micronesian Presidents’ Summit in 2015, as well as by other bodies.

The leadership of the Marshalls and its partners in the Climate Vulnerable Forum is recognized by the International Maritime Organization, with 174 country con-vention members; the International Chamber of Shipping, representing the world’s national ship owner as-sociations and more than 80% of the merchant fleet; and the Marine Environment Protection Committee, Kramer said.

“I believe that Tony de Brum was very instrumental in getting this organization formed. It’s amazing the traction, recognition and respect that the Marshall Islands has in the world community [among] the big players,” he said.

“These companies all refer to the Marshall Islands and its presentation for potential tariffs on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions by the shipping industry.”

The Climate Vulnerable Forum is a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affect-ed by the consequences of global warming. The Marshalls chaired the forum from 2018 to 2020.

Kramer said what also helps is that Peter Nuttall, a scientific and technical adviser for the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport at the University of the South Pacific is “an extremely active proponent” of the MCST’s aims.

The “Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport” is somewhat of a misnomer, Kramer said, giv-en the organization’s membership in the Pacific. “The board has pro-posed — and it’s being considered to change the name to the Tony de Brum Center for Sustainable Transport. Frankly, I feel he’s entitled to it,” Kramer said.

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties — known as COP26 — in Glasgow from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12. The COP26 summit will bring parties to-gether to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Kramer said, “The RMI and the Solomons put through a proposal. It is the only one that has sufficient detail where it could actually have an influence on this business of hav-ing a tariff on emissions.” Different organizations are likely to put for-ward their own tariff proposals, he said. The two countries proposed in March an initial tariff of $100 per metric ton, with the proposal sub-mitted to the International Maritime Organization.

Funds would help climate-vul-nerable countries and subsidize development of new technologies

and fuels. “That would go into re-search and development for eventual decarbonization of the shipping in-dustry,” Kramer said.

He said of the aim of a carbon free maritime sector, “It’s realistic — amazing, but realistic.”

Shipping is a vital lifeline, par-ticularly in Micronesia with its vast expanses of water. “Shipping carries 90% of the trade in food and dura-ble goods. Without shipping, half the world would starve to death,” Kramer said.

Although he said the shipping in-dustry accounts for less than 3% as a contributor to greenhouse gases, he said group efforts “are something we can do.” In addition, he said, “It’s organized to a point where we can

get revenue from that organization — a multi-billion or trillion- dol-lar industry — to work towards the overall problem of greenhouse gas emissions.”

The shipping industry offers advantages as a partner, he said. “Shipping is an industry you can get your hands around and by working with it we can come up with pro-grams that will assist in developing greenhouse gas reduction.”

The MCST is approach-ing the International Maritime Organization, the International Chamber of Shipping and “is trying to use its support on an internation-

The Project Cerulean sail-assisted ship is being constructed at a cost of about $4 million and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022. The rig design has shifted from the cur-rent Indosail on the main mast to a more conventional Bermuda with an additional topsail. The hull form and remainder of the vessel should look very similar to what is depicted in the attached image, according to information from the University of the South Pacific.

Photo courtesy of University of the South Pacific and VPLP design

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the utilization of my office’s confi-dential informal advice function. In each of the three years since the position was created, more employ-ees than the year before have taken advantage of this resource.

Q: What is on your to-do list in the short term and what are your future goals?

A: My to-do list is always too long to actually accomplish. Constantly at the top of my short-term to do list are many calls with leaders and em-ployees on all manner of workplace relations topics. Other immediate projects include developing our next round of annual trainings for all employees in the Ninth Circuit and acclimating myself and pri-oritizing my role on new national committees I’ve joined or lead as of Oct. 1. One long-term, ongoing goal is to better integrate diversity, equi-ty and inclusion in all aspects of our work through the leadership of the Ninth Circuit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer who came to my office in late 2020.

Another ongoing, long-term goal is to play my part in creating the most exemplary workplace culture. In conjunction with Ninth Circuit leadership, my team is constantly assessing the progress we’ve made, the criticisms and constructive

feedback we receive, and ways in which we can still improve.

Q: Workplace relations have come to the fore since legislation has protected various groups. Legislation varies by state and ter-ritory – so is this area a “work in progress” in the U.S.?

A: I don’t feel I’m qualified to ful-ly answer this question on whether this area is a work in progress in the United States. That said, work-place protections are not new in the United States. Prohibitions on discrimination, harassment and re-taliation among other things have existed for decades under federal law and those prohibitions are not new in the judiciary either. The main emerging area that I see is the prohibition on abusive conduct, and we are fully engaged with that issue in the Ninth Circuit.

Q: What are the areas of highest concern in workplace relations?

A: There are several areas that stand out. Speaking generally on the landscape in the United States regarding workplace relations top-ics, sexual harassment, especially since the #metoo movement start-ed, tends to get the most public and media attention. It is, without a doubt, an important issue and far too many people are still harassed at work and far too many harassers evade accountability. In the wake

of the protests in summer 2020 fol-lowing the killing of George Floyd, there has been some increased at-tention to the long-standing racial and ethnic discrimination, har-assment, indignities, slights and isolation that many people of color have endured in the workplace. Another issue that has received some increased awareness over the last few years is harassment and discrimination based on gen-der-identity and sexual orientation. While all of these issues merit sub-stantial, continued efforts, from my perspective, a significant workplace relations topic that has not gener-ally received attention consistent with its prevalence and harm, is abusive conduct or workplace bul-lying. This issue can and does have a tremendous negative impact on individuals and workplaces. In the Ninth Circuit, and the judiciary as a whole, we have prioritized pre-venting and addressing abusive conduct.

Q: While ignorance is no de-fense, how many of the cases that come before the courts related to workplace relations are the result of lack of training, rather than ill-intent?

A: While I don’t work on cases that come before the courts, in my work I see situations where an in-dividual may not have bad intent, but their actions are having a tre-mendous negative impact. There can be various reasons for this, from not accurately perceiving the role of power dynamics, to not rec-ognizing how messages or actions are received by those with different backgrounds and experiences, to misunderstanding others’ sensibil-ities around “jokes” or comments, to a general lack of self-awareness. Education and training helps in some of these situations, and my office conducts a wide variety of training for all types of audiences. And, there are also situations where an individual does have bad intent or is unable to change their behav-ior in ways that will stop causing harm. Each of these situations must be handled differently. However, in order to create and maintain a healthy working environment, it is equally important to appropriately address all such situations.

Q: Your personal career has a trajectory that dovetails with your experience. Was there a particular motivation that took you into the federal environment, or your area of expertise?

A: A combination of many fac-tors led me here. From a young age, I always wanted to do work that would benefit groups that may be disadvantaged or overlooked. Some of that comes from personal ex-perience with discrimination and racism growing up and the influ-

ence of mentors in my life around those issues. For example, in the town where I grew up, black peo-ple were not allowed in the local swimming pool. When I was in high school, some of the black parents in the neighborhood, including a very close family friend who I admired, decided to stand up against the practice. It culminated in a federal court case in which the Third Circuit held that the swim club was violat-ing federal law by discriminating against black people. The case is U.S. vs. Lansdowne Swim Club, 894 F.2d 93 (3d. Cir. 1990). That experi-ence was incredibly influential on me and the path I’ve taken. Over the years, I’ve accumulated an array of experiences working on issues that disproportionately impact women and people of color in par-ticular. Eventually, my focus started to narrow on issues connected to federal civil rights protections. My time as an enforcement attorney at the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education was particularly meaningful. I had also worked for the federal courts twice previously. When this position was created, it just seemed like a natural fit for my passions, skills and ex-perience. I wholeheartedly believe that the federal courts are a key in-stitution for American democracy, and I wanted to do my part to help them to improve in my arena.

Q: Law remains a diverse pro-fession with many options for specialty. Should a student aim to get all-round experience be-fore deciding on a field in the profession?

A: This is a really good question and I do not feel like there is any one right answer for everyone. I would recommend that students be open to possibilities beyond what they anticipate or envision as they embark on law school. As you in-dicate in the question, there is an incredible variety of work that one can do with a law degree. Yet, most law students, and even young law-yers, have only been exposed to a few of them. Some of the most suc-cessful lawyers I know have been passionate about a particular thing from day one, and have become real experts in their field. However, I know just as many, if not more people who focused on an area ear-ly in their career, then felt the need to grind it out and stick to it even if it has made them miserable. Some of the happiest lawyers I know, in-cluding me, are doing something they never even envisioned for themselves when they were start-ing out on their legal career. So, I would encourage students to stay open to the possibilities, and to not be afraid to go in a different direc-tion when an opportunity to do so makes sense. mbj

Q&A CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9


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Marianas Business Journal, Volume 18, Number 21 — October 4, 2021. Entire contents copyrighted 2021 by Glimpses of Guam Inc. Marianas Business Journal is published biweekly by Glimpses of Guam Inc. 161 US Army Juan C. Fejeran St., Barrigada Heights, Guam 96913. (671) 649-0883; Fax (671) 649-8883. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Marianas Business Journal, P.O. Box 3191, Hagåtña, Guam 96932. Send e-mail to [email protected]. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: 6 months $60; 1 year $120. Payment must accompany order. No material may be printed in part or in whole without written permission from the publisher. Printed by Guam Daily Post LLC, on Guam, contact Marianas Business Journal at Glimpses of Saipan Inc., 2nd Floor Transpac Business Center, Middle Road, Gualo Rai, Saipan, MP 96950, or call (670) 235-7645; Fax (670) 234-1801. Send e-mail to [email protected].

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al basis,” Kramer said. “The Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership is actu-ally for the Pacific and the Pacific Islands.”

One positive outcome is a 2018 Memorandum of Understanding between the China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd. — parent of Swire Shipping and Swire Bulk — and the University of the South Pacific to design, build and trial a primarily low-carbon ship to serve the Pacific islands. The Cerulean Project is that vessel. “It’s a practical vessel; it’s suitable to the island countries that have a long history of sailing traditions,” Kramer said. “For the Marshalls — and that’s really where the Cerulean Project was initiated — it makes a lot of sense. The populations in the outer islands are relatively small and

travel back and forth to the district center in the old days … was from that island to that island. It was over-night.” The arrival of the U.S. military changed perspective and customs and made journeys longer, Kramer said. “It’s not as convenient and the transportation is therefore not as frequent.”

The possibilities are there, he said. “A larger model of the Cerulean Project could go from the Marshalls to Fiji to New Zealand.” The first ves-sel is an experiment in inter-island trade and to see how practical it is, he said.

The PBSP is being administered by the University of New South Wales and is funded by the World Bank, which committed an advisory support package focusing on eval-uation of environmental stability for Pacific ports, assessments for maritime needs in the Pacific and

government reform and capacity building needs, as well as strength-ening the PBSP and development of the Pacific maritime sector. The World Bank has said assessments could factor into its investment strategy for the maritime sector in the Pacific region.

The PBSP’s responsibility, Kramer said is “to put together a report and a budget for the overall solution in the Pacific.”

In addition, he said, “It’s the Pacific islands that are most vulner-able to sea level rise.” The region’s efforts epitomize the intent of the Pacific Islands, Kramer said. “We understand the problem of glob-al warming; it affects us, we’re the most vulnerable and we’re going to do everything in our power to work towards eliminating or limiting our contribution to what is causing glob-al warming.” mbj

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