The Bond Buyer: Puerto Rico’s Public Pensions Deserve Preservation / El Nuevo Dia: Las pensiones públicas de Puerto Rico merecen ser preservadas

John J. Rapisardi, chair of O’Melveny’s Global Restructuring Practice, authored an op-ed article that was published by El Nuevo Dia and The Bond Buyer discussing the crucial denouement of Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring, the severity of proposed cuts for public pension holders, and the grave importance of protecting Puerto Rico’s pension plan.

Rapisardi pinpoints the potential detrimental impact should the Government approve the Financial Oversight and Management Board’s request for a settlement, a move that would reduce the Commonwealth’s debt from US$35 billion to US$7.4 billion but mandates significant pension cuts and benefit freezing for judges and teachers in addition to those previously imposed. 

“Having earnestly settled with every major constituency, it is time for the Board to do the right thing by abandoning unnecessary pension cuts and freezes,” Rapisardi asserts, adding that “[t]he Board must realize that Puerto Rico’s loyal public servants did not create the Island’s fiscal crisis and fairness dictates they should not once again be asked to pay for damage that occurred through no fault of their own.”