Fitial: Credit for $1M food stamp should go to local officials

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial expressed grave disappointment yesterday with Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan, accusing him of continuing “to undermine the hard work of local government officials” in securing much needed food stamp funding for the Commonwealth’s needy residents.

An Office of the Governor statement yesterday quoted a communication from Jesus Mendoza, Jr., deputy regional administrator of USDA- Food and Nutrition Service’s Western Regional Office, that stated: “On behalf of Allen Ng, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service Western Region Administrator, I am providing your office with official notification that the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will receive an additional one-time funding in federal fiscal year 2012 in the amount of $1,000,000 for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In addition, I would like to inform you that Mr. Ng also called Mr. Melvin Faisao to inform him of the additional funds.”

Mendoza also noted that DCCA Secretary Faisao and CNMI NAP administrator Eleanor Cruz continue to remain actively engage in ensuring that low-income families get the assistance they deserve.

“USDA-FNS appreciates your government’s dedication to the families of CNMI, and we will continue to work with Mr. Melvin Faisao and Ms. Eleanor Cruz to ensure the proper actions are taken,” stated Mendoza.

Fitial lauded DCCA and the local NAP office for their diligent service to the people of the Commonwealth.

“During these particularly tough economic times, I am very disappointed to hear that some elected officials are more interested in taking credit for additional federal assistance for our people,” said Fitial in a statement yesterday. “Instead, our leaders should be focused on advocating policies and economic incentives that will truly bring about long term financial stability for our Commonwealth.”

This is not the first time that the governor has come out in defense of local government employees who strive to make a difference for families across the CNMI. Nonetheless, Fitial vowed to continue defending and praising the work of local government officials “who often go unrecognized simply because certain elected leaders want to mislead the public and grab credit by all means necessary,” the statement adds.

“This political grandstanding does nothing more than take away from the hard work being done on a daily basis by the employees of my administration. No one understands the economic needs of our citizens more than the fine men and women that work here, on island, in the CNMI government; and I will never disrespect their hard work by taking credit away from them,” said Fitial. “Talk is cheap but actions are what matters most and I thank everyone working in my administration for the actions they take every day for the Commonwealth’s benefit.”

Fitial suggested that elected officials “should spend more time working on legislation that provides long term economic stability for native people instead of working on band aid solutions and back-door granting of U.S. citizenship for nonresident workers.”

Fitial added, “While we appreciate the federal government’s assistance during these hard times, Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos and I are working tirelessly with the CNMI Legislature on attracting new industries to the Commonwealth so that our citizens won’t have to rely heavily on their assistance.”

The governor also said that he welcomes the assistance from every elected CNMI official “because at the end of the day, it’s not the credit that matters, but the benefits every CNMI citizen will reap as a result of a united and effective leadership.”(PR)