Flashback — Oct. 2002- Oct. 2004

“DPH can reject all CHC bids’[/B]

The Department of Public Health can reject all proposals submitted by different staffing companies when necessary, authorities said. “The DPH can do what it wants. That’s the right reserved to the department,” Procurement and Supply special consultant Robert Florian said. Likewise, Pedro Untalan, DPH special assistant, said that as of now, the DPH is not obligated to stick to the bidding process. He said the DPH remains at the “driver’s seat.” “If you look at it, this is a request for proposal. We’re not bound to stick to that…I feel, we still are in the driver’s seat to decide whether to accept or reject all bids,” Untalan said. “What we have right now is a different type of process. It’s a proposal. We’re just wanting to know what is available out there,” he added.

Despite the lack of assistance from concerned local authorities, Eucon International College said it will continue to accept NCLEX reviewers on its campus on Saipan. This developed as at least 50 nursing students from Taiwan have expressed great interest to undergo NCLEX review at Eucon. “They’re coming. There’s a lot of them actually. We’re accepting them as they come,” Wei said in an interview Friday. Wei, earlier, said that Eucon’s nursing program would be temporarily suspended following its failure to seek approval from the CNMI Board of Nurse Examiner to allow its students to take NCLEX on Saipan. Five Eucon students eventually took the licensure exam in Nevada last month.

ADB funds still available to NMC[/B]

The Asian Development Bank is still open to the Northern Marianas College’s application for financial assistance, according to Saipan-based ADB consultant Gary Baldwin. In an interview, Baldwin said the bank has actually approved NMC’s proposed project, which amounts to $26 million. The NMC had applied for the loan/grant package last year but, by April this year, the college had said it would not materialize due to differences in goals. “Their objectives are different from us,” NMC president Kenneth Wright had said. Baldwin, however, said that ADB had considered the project on one basic condition: for NMC to submit an educational accord between Micronesian colleges.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Board of Directors approved yesterday a $95,000 emergency funding for the purchase of two transformers for Rota. “This is already a lingering issue. It’s been several months ago since we discussed this. And yet, we’re still here,” said board chair Herman P. Sablan. The motion to approve the $95,000 was voted on by the majority. Two members-Joseph Torres and Velma Palacios-abstained as they expressed their dissatisfaction over the handling of the issue.
[B] Oct. 7, 2004

‘NMI not losing revenue through tax credit’
[/B] Far less than 1 percent of the Commonwealth’s total estimated revenue is “lost” through the educational tax credit, according to a group opposing a House bill that would repeal the ETC law. Coalition of Private Schools CNMI Inc. president Scott Norman said that, contrary to a statement in House Bill 14-238, the government is not losing substantial revenue as a result of the ETC. “Quite the contrary, the Commonwealth is putting money where it is needed most. The money is going directly to the schools. There is no loss in that arrangement,” Norman said in a letter to Rep. Norman Palacios, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The 3D-Drunk and Drugged Driving-committee said yesterday that it will be intensifying its fight against drunk and drugged driving to stem the high number of arrests of motorists driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The committee, comprising staff from the Department of Public Safety Traffic Section, met with other government agencies, including the Attorney General’s Office, Marianas Visitors Authority, and the Saipan Mayor’s Office, yesterday morning to discuss ways of educating the community against drunk and drugged driving. Plans for events this December-to be proclaimed Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month-include a mini-fair, presentations at schools and both government and private agencies, among others.