Some lawmakers once again exceeded their quarterly discretionary fund allotments and therefore had to borrow from their colleagues or ask for the reprogramming of at least $9,112 in April to June to cover for budget shortfalls, up from the reprogramming of almost $7,000 in January to March, government records obtained by Saipan Tribune show.
Each lawmaker was allotted $22,367 in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2009 or from April to June, lower than the $26,217 allotted during January to March.
The discretionary or operational funding is separate from the annual salary of $39,300 of each member of the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Office of Management and Budget records show that House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios (R-Saipan) transferred $1,200 to the discretionary fund account of Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider in April.
Palacios could not be reached for comment yesterday but he told Saipan Tribune previously that he and his running mate, Hofschneider, share some operational expenses and resources that would explain the transfer of funds on a regular basis.
Hofschneider is running for governor in the Nov. 7 election, and Palacios is his running mate.
In two separate occasions, Rep. Ralph DLG. Torres (R-Saipan) transferred $556 each to the account of Rep. Joseph Reyes.
Reyes received two other transfers of money, this time amounting to $750 each from Rep. Diego T. Benavente (R-Saipan).
“The transfer of money is necessary to help out one another,” Reyes told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
He said the money transferred to his account helped him assist the community, including church activities and sponsorship of sports events for worthwhile youth activities.
Reyes said he is open to audit of all expenditure of funds and transfer of money.
“It's hard not to entertain requests from the community especially if you know these are for important things,” he added.
Benavente, for his part, received a $500 transfer of fund from Senate Pres. Pete P. Reyes (R-Saipan) in June.
In May, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb (R-Saipan) transferred $200 to the account of Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan).
“That's for the spear fishing tournament and instead of coming directly from my account, I transferred that to his account,” Tebuteb said in an interview.
Another $200 was transferred to Deleon Guerrero but the records did not indicate the source of the transfer.
Tebuteb later received from Rep. Ray N. Yumul (R-Saipan) a transfer of $1,400.
In a phone interview, Tebuteb said the reprogrammed $1,400 was for the repair of a pavilion on Precinct 3.
Rep. Justo Quitugua (D-Saipan) also transferred $300 to Rep. Oscar M. Babauta's (Covenant-Saipan) account.
In June, Rep. Ed Salas (R-Saipan) transferred $2,000 to the account of Rep. David Apatang (R-Saipan) and $700 to Reyes.
Salas confirmed transferring $2,000 to Apatang's account. “It's a common practice for us to help our colleagues who are in need of funding,” he said.
Salas also said that the $700 transferred to Reyes' account was used for transportation for him to be able to attend a House Education and Welfare Committee public hearing on Rota and Tinian.
“I couldn't go to the public hearing and he wanted to but didn't want to use his account so I went ahead and transferred that amount to him,” he added.
Reyes also received another $556 from Rep. Ralph Torres.
Some lawmakers transferred some of their discretionary funds to a few of their colleagues to cover for budget shortfalls, among other reasons.
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