FLASHBACK

$60M FOR POWER PLANT REPAIR

Some $60 million would be needed to upgrade the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s main power plants in Lower Base, according to the Harris Group. In a presentation at the Legislature yesterday, Harris Group vice president Dennis Swann said that regardless of who operates the power plants, $60 million would be needed to fix the rundown power plants’ facilities and ensure efficient operations.

LABOR: SOME 100 WORKERS REPATRIATED ALREADY

The Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Labor have repatriated some 100 of the over 1,000 garment workers-mostly Chinese-who were displaced as a result of factory closures. Labor Secretary Joaquin Tenorio said the repatriation of the workers was facilitated through a partnership with private travel agencies, which allowed the department to utilize empty seats on charter flights to China at reduced rates.

MAY 14, 2004

7-MONTH REVENUE ONLY AT $107M

The CNMI government collected only $107.3 million in the first seven months of fiscal year 2004, making it impossible for the Babauta administration to justify its proposed $226 million budget for fiscal year 2005. In a report submitted by the Department of Finance covering the period from October 2003 to April 30, 2004, the total collection of the government amounted to only $107.32 million, which is way below the $213 million projected by the department for the entire fiscal year.

AVERAGE JUNIOR READS AT 3RD-GRADE LEVEL

Latest reading assessments showed that most of Hopwood Junior High School students have improved significantly within one year but the fact remains that most of them read below their grade level. Records showed that in school year 2002-2003, 93 percent of 7th grade students read below their grade level, with the average reader at 3rd-grade level and with more at 2nd and 4th level.

MAY 14, 2003

MANGLONA ASKED TO STEP DOWN

Feeling betrayed over Senate President Paul A. Manglona’s decision to abstain from voting on Ricardo S. Atalig’s expulsion Monday, Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero yesterday called on the Rota senator to step down as presiding officer of the upper house. This clamor was backed by Sen. Pete P. Reyes, who said that it’s time for Manglona to give up the post after having “lost the confidence of the people that he’s supposed to lead.”

ERUPTION PROMPTS STATE OF EMERGENCY

Gov. Juan N. Babauta yesterday declared a state of emergency in the Commonwealth and pronounced Anatahan unsafe for human habitation, as the erupting volcano on that island continued to spew out clouds of ashes that have already reached Philippine jurisdiction. The Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center estimated the plume at an altitude of 16,000 feet, spreading to approximately 1 million square kilometers above the Pacific Ocean.

MAY 14, 2002

CING RESIGNS FROM SENATE LEADERSHIP

Enraged over what he perceived as an insult to him and his committee, Senate Vice President David M. Cing expressed his intention yesterday to resign from the upper chamber’s leadership, saying, “Can I trust my leadership [again] after what happened?” This comes soon after Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano made a motion to recall and reconsider an earlier vote they made rejecting the nomination of former senator Edward U. Maratita to the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Development Authority.

THE WATER YOU DRINK MAY BE CONTAMINATED

In another disclosure that depicts the poor condition of public water in the Commonwealth, the Division of Environmental Quality yesterday said there is no single public water system CNMI-wide that performs lead and copper monitoring, which have put consumers at risk of using contaminated drinking water.