{"id":777009735,"date":"2023-09-29T06:27:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T09:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777009735"},"modified":"2026-04-22T17:38:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:38:54","slug":"two-ccc-members-urge-cnmi-to-work-with-ipi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/two-ccc-members-urge-cnmi-to-work-with-ipi","title":{"rendered":"Two CCC members urge CNMI to work with IPI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Martin Mendiola and Ramon M. Dela Cruz said they believe the CNMI should offer IPI “something that could work”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northern Mariana Islands.- Two members of the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC)<\/strong>, Martin Mendiola<\/strong> from Rota and Ramon M. Dela Cruz <\/strong>from Tinian, have proposed the CNMI government’s work with Imperial Pacific International (IPI) to revive the islands’ casino sector. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a CCC meeting, authorities addressed\u00a0IPI’s US$62m debt to the CNMI government<\/strong>. CCC chairman\u00a0Edward C. Deleon Guerrero<\/strong>\u00a0said he had met with Governor Arnold I. Palacios, who advised the commission to proceed with the revocation of IPI’s licence. However, Palacios acknowledged that the CNMI Supreme Court has granted the CCC the authority to establish a reasonable timeline for IPI\u00a0to settle its obligations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendiola emphasized the need to\u00a0find a solution that would revive the casino industry\u00a0in order to benefit the CNMI. According to Mariana’s Variety, he said: “Let’s move the industry forward. Let’s put our heads together. Let’s come up with a possible best option together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dela Cruz suggested that a settlement should be explored to provide IPI with the necessary leeway to recover. He highlighted the potential difficulties in collecting from IPI should the CCC revoke its exclusive casino licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC is facing financial challenges due to the annual US$3m regulatory fee that IPI has not paid since 2020. In January, the regulator\u00a0suspended its activities<\/a>\u00a0due to a lack of funds, but members are still receiving full-time salaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martin Mendiola and Ramon M. Dela Cruz said they believe the CNMI should offer IPI “something that could work”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) is deliberating the future of Imperial Pacific International's (IPI) exclusive casino license in the CNMI, amidst IPI's US$62m debt and unpaid regulatory fees since 2020. While the Governor advises license revocation, some CCC members propose a settlement to revive the islands' casino sector and ensure debt recovery. The CNMI Supreme Court has granted the CCC authority to establish a reasonable timeline for IPI's obligations.","focusai_entities":"Martin Mendiola, Ramon M. Dela Cruz, Imperial Pacific International, Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, Arnold I. Palacios, Commonwealth Casino Commission, CNMI government, CNMI Supreme Court","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, Rota, Tinian","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IPI Debt Recovery Strategy","query":"What specific mechanisms or legal avenues is the Commonwealth Casino Commission considering to ensure recovery of Imperial Pacific International's US$62m debt and outstanding regulatory fees, beyond immediate license revocation?"},{"label":"CNMI Market Re-entry Framework","query":"Should Imperial Pacific International's exclusive license be revoked, what are the CNMI government's strategic plans for re-licensing and attracting new operators to revive the casino sector, and what would be the revised regulatory and fiscal framework?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,154],"tags":[21613,24134],"class_list":["post-777009735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legislation-news","tag-commonwealth-casino-commission","tag-imperial-pacific-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777009735"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777041238,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009735\/revisions\/777041238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777009735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777009735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777009735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}