Flashback April 15, 1999-2003

CUC, CPA agree to share costs in contract hitch[/B]

The ports authority and the utilities corporation yesterday agreed to share the cost of settling a contractor’s claim for a half-completed sewer line, ending months of squabble between the agencies that has delayed the completion of the critical project. “The issue has been resolved,” Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio told in an interview after the meeting. “They’re going to start the project right away.”

The New York-based law firm that lodged a $1 billion class-action lawsuit against the CNMI garment industry has found itself in deep financial trouble. In a space of two days, the law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes and Lerach, known for filing shareholder class-action suits in which investors go against corporate management with big money at stake, was $95 million deep in court-mandated obligations.

Australia’s Consul General to the Federated States of Micronesia Timothy Cole yesterday paid a courtesy to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, promising to help the Commonwealth promote the Northern Marianas as a tourist destination. Cole, who is on island as part of his familiarization tour of the Micronesian region, said in an interview he has scheduled a meeting with officials of the Marianas Visitors Authority to discuss how Canberra could assist CNMI market the islands.

Group Health sinking due to failed promise[/B]

Among other things, the absence of the $1 million that the Legislature had promised to fund the Group Health and Life Insurance Program, plus the delayed remittances of the Department of Finance of the monthly premiums is the primary cause why Group Health has been encountering cash flow problems. To resolve this, Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund Board Chair Vicente C. Camacho said Group Health would soon increase the employer contribution to $5 per subscriber for the program to stabilize financially.

Adopting the recommendations on an audit report on travel expenditures, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation claimed it has managed to drastically cut travel spending by as much as 70 percent this fiscal year compared to the figures of FY 2001. The estimate percentage was disclosed by CUC Executive Director Bernard P. Villagomez, following a special board meeting Friday.

Rota Mayor Benjamin Manglona reopened the negotiation with the Global Country of World Peace following a decision by the CNMI Legislature to reject the proposed projects on the island. In a press conference called by the Global Country of World Peace at the Hyatt Regency Saipan Friday, Prime Minister Emmanuel Schiffgens disclosed that after the Legislature’s decision, Manglona called to renegotiate the project in hopes to develop the island’s local economy.

House to Admin: Hold your horses[/B]

House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider said the House of Representatives will hold a public hearing on the proposed $228-million spending plan for Fiscal Year 2004 to see if people will support the tax and fee increases it is proposing. At the same time, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Stanley Torres chided the Babauta administration for saying it is “frustrated” over the lower chamber’s inaction on the budget bill and Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s Integrated Fiscal Proposal.

A delegation of Chinese leaders met with acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente yesterday morning in a visit that became the venue for discussion of tourism and other mutual interest issues, including the CNMI’s goalto penetrate the China tourism market. Press Secretary Peter A. Callaghan said the dialogue dwelt on the CNMI’s goal to get a designation for the Commonwealth as an approved destination for tourists from the People’s Republic of China.