CITV O'" •, ..,,.,,,;, li'c.;r,J·'Y .UNNER . _-\.v,1.1 .,.)[' n.~1.\Jt.·1.~, ,:...,;,r•·;._ l 2wor erssue By Rick Alberto accidentally touched a high-volt­ yer Eric S. Smith in behalf of disability to her leg. power line. Variety News Staff age power line while decorating, Duan and Yang, who have re­ The electrical wire that electro­ Duan and Yang likewise .ac­ THE Commonwealth Utilities together with other employees, turned to China after their work cuted Duan was strung low and cused Yin Star Corp. of negli­ Corp. was sued the-other day by the rooftop of a building on the permits and contracts expired. was not insulated or inadequately gence for allegedly allowing an two Chinese contract workers af­ eve of the Prince Theater's open­ According to the complaint, insulated, the complaint said. unsafe working condition and for ter one of them was electrocuted ing. Duan suffered severe bums to his It blamed the CUC for careless­ failing to inspect the theater pre­ by a live wire way back in 1994. Yan, in trying to avoid the acci­ head and feet "causing perma­ ness in installing the line "too mises and to warn them about the Also named as defendants filed dent that befell her co-employee, nent and severe neurological and close" to the building. unsafe condition. by Duan Tieling and Yan jumped _from the rooftop, in the physical damage." It said the cue breached its They said their employer failed Dongmei before the District Court process getting injured. It also alleged that Yan's inju­ duty to insure that the complain­ to procure worker's compensa- were Yin Star Corp., which used Aranda was named as defen­ ries would result in permanent ants would not be injured by the Continued on page 6 to operate the Prince Theater, and dant, being the lessor of the the­ Roma Diaz Aranda. ater building. Duan suffered injuries when he The complaint was filed by law- Torres to speaker: Garment sector Floating casino yet not ready for a 30-cent wage hike By Rafael H. Arroyo with members of the Board where Variety News Staff he was told about plans to pro­ to apply for license THE GARMENT industry on pose a three-tiered increase to be By Rafael ·H. Arroyo draft memorandum of under­ Saipan better be prepared for a selectively implemented. Variety News Staff standing supposedly.signed be­ 30-cent minimum wage increase The board asked for a week's THE MANILA-based devel­ tween CNMI officials and · by April as it would not be given time to come up with such a rec­ oper seeking to bring in and Yoshiya. any form ofleniency on the wage ommendation. operate a floating casino off Lt. Gov. Jesus C. Borja even issue. The proposal being entertained the island of Tinian has yet to traveled to the Philippines This was from House Speaker by the House is a general increase formally tum in a license ap­ months ago to meet with Diego T. Benavente who believes of 30 cents by April 1st. Current plication with the Tinian Ca­ Yoshiya officials. The casino that the state of the industry is not law sets the wage hike by July 1st. sino Gaming Commission. boat is said to be due in the that bad so as to get adversely Although he has yet to see the This was learned from Paul Commonwealth by April and impacted by such an increase. final board recommendation, the Palmer, executive director of may start gaming operations "I don't think that the garment speaker said the board is likely to the Commission who said an by June. industry will be receiving an in­ propose lower increases for the application is fundamental to But according to Palmer, his crease lower than 30-cents this garment and construction indus­ the licensing process and is thus office has yet to receive an of­ April 1st. This is something I will tries in the proposed tiered sys­ Joaquin S. Torres necessary if the casino ship ficial application from the said be pushing for and something that tem. plans to start operations this firm and so the licensing pro­ the leadership feels very strong "I was told by Board chairman Saipan. year. cess could not be started. about," said Benavente in an in­ Joaquin S. Torres that the gar­ The Variety yesterday tried to Media reports started circu­ Palmer pointed out that all terview yesterday. ment industry is among those that reach Torres for comment but the lating since late last year that the Commission received from The speaker made the statement may not be able to withstand the latter was not available. Yoshiya Phils., Inc. is plan­ Yoshiya was an informal letter after learning about an apparent said increase," said Benavente. "From my discussions with the ning to bring in a $5 million requesting an application and move by the Wage and Salary Apart from chairing the com­ chairman, the possible recommen­ gaming boat to Tinian to en­ generic information about the Review Board to provide for a mittee tasked by law to set wage dation from them will be a more gage in casino operations. casino industry on Tinian. "less hurting" wage increase for levels, Torres is currently person­ lenient increase for garment, con­ Such reports also told of a Continued on page 6 the Saipan apparel industry. nel director of L&T Corp., the struction and the small retail store The speaker on Monday met largest garment conglomerate on Continued on page 6 Legislative leaders move to Lottery revenues for quarter hit $117,607 mend Guam-CNMI relations THE GOVERNMENT earned a earned by the government such as By Mar-Vic C. Munar CNMI and Guam governments wrote separate letters to Guam total of$ I I? ,607 in revenues from the $9,750 accrued commission Variety News Staff broughf'about by the optic cable Gov. Carl Gutierrez and Speaker lottery operations from Septem­ from instant tickets for the first SENATE. and House leaders issue. Don Parkinson "to extend the ber to December 1995, says the Continued on page 6 have moved to mend the im­ . Senate President Jesus Sablan hand of friendship from the report from the Office of Public paired relations between the and Speaker Diego Benavente . CNMI people to Guam govern- Auditor. ment." · Public Auditor Leo LaMotte )t"~'<i-u~ Gutierrez is scheduled to ar­ said revenues from lottery opera­ Weather rive Saipan today to meet with tions were properly computed "in Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio and iron accordance with the terms of out the differences between the OuUook agreements between the govern­ two governments. ment and Tattersall Sweep "Regarding the recentcontro- Consulation of Australia and its . versy between the CNM! and accredited authorized representa­ Guam, we trust that the words of tive agent, the Mail Service, Shap­ one individual, spoken however ing Ltd. 'inadvertently; will not tarnish The audit showed that the the relationship between Olli" is• CNMI earned commission rev­ ·. lands.'' Sablan and ·Benavente enues of $114,895 and an interest 'saidinaMarch8lettertoGuam's of $2,712. Mostly sunny top leaders. .· . .· · · . However, the public auditor with Isolated showers . ·: The·.dispute betwee11. the tw~ said the finance department has · ~nuidonP119'6 not yet recorded other revenues 2-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-WEDNESDAY-MARCH 13, 1996 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1996 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-3 Taiwan military on high alert Reyes wants MTC in cable project By PATRICIA KUO "We have heightened alert, espe­ Chinese mainland, soldiers trimmed stopped shelling the island. province and has never renounced By Mar-Vic C. Munar Under the contract, GST will deliver the same service. force to reunify it with the main­ voice, data and video commu­ TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan cially on the front-line islands which hundreds of trees to give their artillery Beaches that opened to swimmers · Variety News Staff be the sole provider of long MTC joined but lost the bid­ nication . land. Taiwan also espouses reuni­ went on heightened alert Tuesday, liefacetofacewiththeexercisearea," units a clearer view, the China Times in recent years were closed again, the HOUSE Floor Leader Rep. distance service in the CNMI ding for the installation of fi­ The installation of the fication, but China is convinced Pete Reyes proposed yester­ waiting for China to begin live-fire a military official, requesting ano­ reported. report said. for three y"ears. ber optic cable reportedly be­ project is expected to reduce its president, Lee Teng-hui, co­ war games, and police said they had nymity, said Tuesday. The trees were planted after China ChinaclaimsTaiwanisarenegade day that local telecommuni­ "That provision gives GST cause it lacked some docu­ the cost of of overseas phone vertly wants to make the island completed an islandwide cleanup of The military says it expects the cations companies be invited the exclusive right to provide ments required. calls to Guam to 50 cents. independent. to take part in the ·CNMI' s bomb shelters. exercise to include anti-submarine long distance service," Reyes "MTC is an established com­ At present, CNMI callers pay There are no indications either The Independence Evening Post measures, anti-ship and anti-aircraft fiber optic cable project "to said in an interview. "What I pany and is open to competi­ $1.85 forthefirstminuteand$1.75 side is anxious for war, however, quoted military solll'CeS as saying missiles, artillery and bombing runs. ensure a healthy competition." would recommend is to take tion," Reyes said. for each additional minute for calls· China began navy vessel and fighier . It also says China might follow up including U.S.