Flashback November 20, 2000-2002

Initiative to elect AG gets Senate approval[/B]

The Senate cleared two measures on Friday pertaining to the post of Attorney General, including the legislative initiative proposing its selection by popular vote.

Senate Legislative Initiative 12-2, passed on first reading, is now up for public scrutiny as senators are expected to gather recommendations and input before giving their final approval.

Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano, author of the initiative and chair of the powerful Committee on Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations, has said the popular vote is the best way in selecting the person to head the Attorney General’s Office.

A ruling that disqualified citizens of the Freely Associated States from public housing benefits two years ago pushed up the number of residents who are delinquent in their rental payment to the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation.

Executive Director Marylou S. Ada disclosed some eviction incidents had to be made in the past because of high delinquency rate among FAS families who were receiving public housing benefits before they were disqualified from the Section-8 Program.

“What really hurt NMHC a lot was that their rental payment went up and delinquency rate correspondingly went up because they had a hard time adjusting to their new rental fees. We noticed an eviction trend because of the higher delinquency,” she explained.

Fund drops settlement talks with Torres[/B]

The Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund has terminated settlement negotiations with former Administrator Juan S. Torres after both parties failed to arrive at an amicable agreement over the terms of the settlement.

Besides this, the Fund’s Board of Trustees also voted unanimously to reterminate Torres’s employment with the Fund during Thursday’s board meeting on Rota.

Fund legal counsel Kathleen Troy-Rucker disclosed that, besides the two-year service credit that the Board had initially granted Torres, the former Administrator also wanted to receive his 30-percent early retirement bonus, which the Board rejected.
[B] Husband tagged in Nida Blanca murder[/B]

The spotlight on the brutal killing of Philippine cinema icon Nida Blanca turned to her husband, Rod Lauren Strunk, who was identified by the self-confessed killer to have masterminded the murder.

The confessed killer of Blanca, Philip Medel, Jr., was presented by Task Force Marsha, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Chief Nestorio Gualberto before Philippine media Monday.

Medel, saying that he could not bear his conscience, surrendered to the police Sunday. He also turned in the weapon he used in killing Blanca as well as the blood-stained polo he wore that day. He is currently detained at the CIDG detention cell.

Meeting calms shipping jitters[/B]

Officials of the Pacific Maritime Association reportedly allayed fears of another strike, pending port dispute negotiations between the dockworkers’ union and the PMA with aid of federal mediators.

This message was carried home by Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero, who is fresh from a Honolulu meeting with PMA officials late last week.

Guerrero, who brought to the Hawaii meeting copies of two Senate resolutions requesting PMA to grant the CNMI exemption from any future work lockouts, was reportedly assured that another strike was not anticipated.