Flashback January 1, 2003-2005

[B][U]January 1, 2003[/U][/B] [B]Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona: Saipan Tribune’s Person of the Year[/B]

He is no conqueror like Napoleon Bonaparte. But despite the burdensome responsibility of leading his people recover from two major disasters, Rota Mayor Benjamin Manglona-a 64-year-old man who has undergone triple bypass operation-displayed strong will and true grit to get Rota back to its feet. “We are down, but we have hope,” Manglona said, following supertyphoon Pongsona’s onslaught on the island, telling his constituents that there’s life beyond the teeming darkness that has plagued Rota for days. The mayor also raised hopes that-with all the assistance extended by federal and local government agencies and the private sector-the island could recover from the devastation of Pongsona within six months.

[B]Two whips of nature in 2002[/B]

Rota received two knockout punches this year: typhoon Chata’an and supertyphoon Pongsona left the island a total wreck by yearend. Rota residents and their leaders, however, don’t sulk over the calamities they get from Mother Nature; they look at disasters as lessons where they can learn valuable lessons from, and as challenges that are meant to make a stronger community out of them. The island’s leaders, led by Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona, saw these challenges as an opportunity to unite the community in asserting what it deserves from the federal government: Nothing special actually-just the same thing Guam, which was also badly hit, is getting.

[B][U]January 1, 2004[/U][/B] [B]CNMI Volunteers: Saipan Tribune’s Person of the Year[/B]

They work long, odd hours without pay. They get called up in the middle of the night, very early in the morning, and most of the time smack dab in the middle of their days off—the only time of day that they could truly call their own. They slave away for most of the time without the recognition that they rightfully deserve. And they do all this with a cheerful smile, a delighted laugh, and a self-deprecation that says they’d rather work behind the scene-unknown, inconspicuous, and truly effective. They are the CNMI’s volunteers and this year, the Saipan Tribune has chosen them to be its Person of the Year. Volunteering, after all, exemplifies the highest ideals of service to the community and, by extension, the world. It is the helping hand in Luke 10:25-37, when Jesus narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a question on who our neighbors are. It is putting into vigorous action John F. Kennedy’s call to arms when he exhorted all Americans to ask not what their country can do for them but what they can do for their country. It is seeing what needs to be done and actually rolling up one’s sleeves to do it.

[B]CHC Volunteers Association[/B]

CHC Volunteers Association They achieve what they want and they deliver. This makes the Commonwealth Health Center Volunteers Association a highly esteemed organization in the CNMI community. It may be the essence of knowing exactly who they are, why they exist, and what they need to do. Two months before the opening of the CHC facility in Nov. 1986, CHC Volunteers was formed with the clear mission of helping CHC improve the quality of health care in the CNMI by focusing on raising funds. Their collective efforts have been tremendous, from providing the hospital with pillowcases, bed sheets, microwave ovens and television sets, to purchasing major equipment for medical treatment. The CHC Volunteers has proven to be astoundingly dependable.

[B][U]January 1, 2005[/U][/B] [B]US military ships to aid in relief efforts[/B]

A U.S. carrier battle group steamed toward Indonesia’s Sumatra island Friday to spearhead an unprecedented multinational military effort to assist the survivors of last weekend’s quake and tsunamis. Naval ships prepositioned on Saipan reportedly left the island to join the relief mission in Thailand. The Associated Press reported that another U.S. marine strike group was sailing westward from the Pacific territory of Guam for the seas off Sri Lanka to buttress the burgeoning global drive to bring water and medical supplies to millions of increasingly desperate people. The AP report also said naval ships from Singapore and Australia were prepared to sail yesterday for Aceh, Sumatra’s northernmost province and the area closest to the epicenter of the quake.