‘If Fitial asks for the delay, he will get it’

Delegate Gregorio “Kilili” C. Sablan yesterday reiterated his call for Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to ask Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for a 180-day delay in the implementation of the federalization law.

“Governor Fitial needs to ask for it. If he asks, he will get it,” Sablan said during the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Saipan at the Hyatt Regency.

CNMI officials and private businesses say the immigration law will bring further harm to the CNMI economy. They said the CNMI stands to lose millions in tourism revenue as a result of the exclusion of Chinese and Russian tourists from the visa waiver program.

Sablan already wrote to Napolitano on Feb. 9 to delay the June 1 start of the transition period in which the federal government will regulate CNMI immigration but he said the most appropriate official to send a request is the CNMI governor.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial earlier said he will personally hand a letter to Napolitano when he meets with her during his trip to Washington, D.C. this week and next week on official function.

Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the governor appreciates Sablan’s deferring to the Office of the Governor but he also respects the Office of the Delegate.

Sablan, in his remarks at the Rotary Club, talked about the $96 million that the CNMI stands to get from the $787 billion economic stimulus package or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the U.S. Congress passed last week.

He said much of this new federal fund will go to education, along with road, water and sewer systems and to train workers. He said CNMI taxpayers will also receive a tax credit of up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for couples meeting the eligibility requirements.

Sablan also reiterated his call for the governor to hire someone whose sole responsibility is to apply for and obtain all possible funding available for the CNMI under the stimulus package.

This was Sablan’s first speaking engagement at the Rotary Club since he got elected as the CNMI’s first delegate to the U.S. Congress. He said the past six weeks have been among the busiest times of his life, including attending caucuses, meetings with congressional members and staff, as well as “walking three miles” to watch the inauguration of President Obama.

He also told Rotary Club members and guests that the CNMI’s past relationship with disgraced Washington, D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff, as well as its heavy reliance on foreign workers when there are lots of local residents without jobs, continues to be brought up in the nation’s capital. This, he said, despite “99 percent of the people in the Marianas have not met Abramoff.”

“It’s not helping our image there…Image is important,” he said, adding that he continues to build good working relationship with members of Congress, Homeland Security and other federal agencies.