BY MARK RABAGO
Saipan Correspondent
SAN ANTONIO, DANDAN and CHALAN KIYA, Saipan —You can say the proprietor of Island Pro Services is a veteran of the cleaning and maintenance industry
Jerry Uberita, 59 years old and a native of Ilocos Sur in the Philippines, already was working as a janitor even before he set foot on Saipan in 1992.
“It’s my line of work from the start as I used to work as a janitor in the Philippines,” he said in Filipino.
Uberita came to the Northern Marianas as a farmer before being hired by Sablan Topline Co., where he worked as a cleaner from 1999 to 2002.
After a short stint with Pacific Gardenia Hotel, he managed his brother’s newly opened cleaning company, Pacific Island Cleaning Agency. In 2015, Uberita finally got his permanent U.S. resident status or green card and that’s when he set up Island Pro Services.
The company currently provides cleaning services mostly to government agencies, among them the Public School System, Commonwealth Development Authority, and Office of Planning and Development.
“Business is OK now as I’ve focused mostly on waxing and polishing floors of the government agencies we service like schools under the PSS. We do general cleaning, carpet shampooing, and sometimes even vehicle detailing of teachers and PSS officials,” he said, adding that personal vehicles are paid by the teachers and officials out of their own pockets.
“They just like the way we clean, so even the cleaning of their personal cars they’ve entrusted to us,” Uberita said.
Island Pro Services hit a bit of a speed bump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as demand for its cleaning services waned.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, operations almost went to a standstill and we concentrated mostly on residential houses,” he said.
Fortunately, business has been picking up as most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted and government employees are coming back to full-time face-to-face work.
Island Pro Services also now does deep cleaning and disinfection services and a myriad of services and rents out equipment.
Uberita said due to the flurry of recent activity Island Pro Services doesn’t have enough staff to keep up with the demand.
Counting himself, his company currently only has three full-time cleaners and getting CNMI-Only Transitional Workers is not a viable option.
“The problem with hiring CWs is that our applications with [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] won’t be approved because our contracts for cleaning services only last for a few months. CWs need to have guaranteed work for a whole year.” Uberita said not a lot of U.S. citizens or green card holders apply.
Island Pro Services’ cleaning costs vary. A 20 foot by 15-foot area is priced at $75 and takes about an hour.
Future plans include expanding operations to Tinian and Rota and also to offer other cleaning services.
Contact Island Pro Services on (670) 287-0483 or on Facebook @islandproservicessaipan.
Matson
Maritess Castillo Matson opened MWM Janitorial & Cleaning Service in 2008 because cleaning is her passion and “We want to help the people who have the same passion as me,” said the native of Tarlac, Philippines.
The company’s cleaning services mostly focus on offices, schools, and private houses as well as providing bush-cutting services.
Just some of MWM Janitorial & Cleaning Service’s past and present clientele include Express Financial, Americorps Office, Marianas High School Gymnasium, Division of Youth Services, CNMI Homeland Security Emergency Management, San Vicente Elementary School, and Glushko’s Academy.
Matson said the pandemic since 2021 impacted their company’s operations.
“We had no additional projects nor additional employees. Right now, we do have one employee, but as part-time only and we’re now in the process of hiring more for the future projects,” she said.
Matson said now most of MWM’s customers are residential and since the pandemic, their cleaning services have shifted from cleaning to deep sanitizing using mostly disinfecting agents.
She said the company’s strength is their attention to detail.
“I can definitely say and be proud to say that it’s the quality of our services. I personally manage our company and I also visit and make sure the project is well done and as clean as it’s needed.”
MWM Janitorial & Cleaning Service charges $12 per hour (manpower services only) for cleaning offices, schools, and private homes. The price is also dependent on the size of the area and if they provide the cleaning materials themselves.
Matson wants to tap again into the government sector for more cleaning jobs and also the hotel industry as the NMI welcomes tourists.
MWM Janitorial & Cleaning Service, part of Matson Consulting Inc. LLC, is located in Dandan, Saipan. It also has two sister companies—MWM Construction and MWW Manpower Agency. Call Matson at (670) 989-2367/285-8980/234-9769 or email [email protected]
Winzy Corp. Janitorial Services was borne out of opportunity when supervisor Charito Laxa started the business in 2015.
The company started as an electrical services company and then to enhance the business, became a general contractor.
“Then we foresaw that prior to construction the need for a crew to come and clean the site and things like that. That’s when we formed a new business called Winzy Corp. Janitorial Services,” Laxa said.
The company was able to win some bids and until now has been the cleaner of Pacific Trading Co., Saipan Community School, and Saipan Southern High School among others.
Laxa said because of the efficiency and fastidiousness of their work, employees of the companies they service would also contract them to clean their own homes.
The janitorial services was hit by the pandemic. “Our operations came to a screeching halt. Of course, because companies started to dwindle down their hours. Therefore they cannot make ends meet and that led to the drastic reduction of the contracted services we provide. The bottom line is they couldn’t afford it.”
Laxa said they were contracted again when the protocols were eased and, “The business is beginning to pick up again.”
Laxa said their strength is providing top-to-bottom cleaning services.
“We have a team supervisor who literally goes around and makes sure everything is nice and clean. We have between two to three people working at a cleaning job at a time minus the team supervisor who checks on the site after the cleaning service is done.”
Laxa said the biggest clients usually pay $1,200 per month and that includes general cleaning of at least two hours a day, from Monday to Friday, and bush-cutting services three times a month.
In the future she said, “The intent is to grow our business since many companies will look to outsource their cleaning services rather than hire their own cleaners themselves.”
The company is also happy concentrate on residential customers.
“We are here to stay and we are definitely here to bring them satisfactory service at a premium target that they can afford.”
Contact Winzy Corp. Janitorial Service at (670) 234-3870 and (670) 285-1726 or email [email protected] mbj
