Villagomez hopes bill to deter crimes vs tourists gets moving

A bill that hopes to deter robberies against tourists by increasing the minimum sentencing for crimes within 1,000 feet of tourist sites has been pre-filed at the House of Representatives.

HB 17-236, authored by Rep. Edmund S. Villagomez (Cov-Saipan), seeks to increase jail term for crimes in tourist sites to one-half the maximum allowable under the law of five years, whichever is more, without the possibility of parole.

“Of course I’m frustrated and I’m not happy with what I’ve been reading in the newspapers and seeing in the news on TV. Basically, most of the enforcement is under the Executive Branch. What we could do in the Legislature is create laws to hopefully deter such actions,” said Villagomez, who chairs the House’s Commerce and Tourism Committee.

Unlike an earlier bill introduced in the House, he said his measure will apply not only to crimes against tourists but crimes against everyone in general.

“Currently there are no minimum penalties. It’s just like zero to 10 years. That could be anything from one day. .This is an idea that should’ve been introduced before,” Villagomez said.

He seeks to introduce the bill at the soonest possible time in the House, considering the spate of crimes against tourists in the past several weeks,

“Depends on the calendar. It only needs to appear for a day and we can act on it. The main point of the bill is to deter these kinds of actions, especially that tourism is our only industry right now. I feel that everyone is also stepping up even us as legislators should step up and this is one way in terms of exercising our power,” said Villagomez.

Just this month, Saipan Tribune records show that five robbery incidents have been perpetrated against tourists.

Last Oct. 10, a man robbed a 51-year-old woman who was playing golf at Coral Ocean Point with her daughter. The next day, on Oct. 11, a man armed with a screwdriver robbed a Russian female tourist at Suicide Cliff in Marpi and drove off with her rented car.

A week later on Oct. 18, a man robbed an elderly Japanese couple who were playing golf at the Marianas Country Club in Marpi. The next day, Oct. 19, a car rented by a Norwegian tourist was burglarized at Ladder Beach.

Last Oct. 27, a robber struck at the Kingfisher Golf Course in Talofofo noon.