Verifying the rumors

I mat not be the proper person to be concerned about LSG’s business deal. It is rumored that in the beginning the company got a free land deal to put up their business to serve the different airlines with food in the CNMI. Also, they have no gross receipt tax, no requirement of what percent of local people they are to employ. I think we lost big time. Why? When we opened our islands to the garment factories we required them to lease privately owned land or to rent land from local owners. These businesses were required to have 15-percent local hire against their total foreign employees.

Now that many airline companies have gone away, LSG is allowed to serve our schools’ breakfast or lunch. Why? To the department that handles land deals and licenses, wake up people! I thought that serving the CNMI schools is supposed to be done by local enterprises to allow our local people to earn income for themselves. Why is now LSG allowed to compete among our people?

Here is the damage or wrong thing. Our local catering businesses hire locals, pay gross receipt tax, and buy supplies from the businesses on our island. Take a look down south at our friendly and good people of Guam. Their departments did not allow LSG to compete against their local enterprises—period.

Yet you big department heads give and provide unfair privileges to outside businesses with no tax! How can we improve our economy? When we give and give, with no taking for us!

I love Best Sunshine coming to our islands to help out. Now I would like to open up your minds, my big department heads, by asking any incoming big businesses in the future to provide 15 to 20 percent local employees to work or train so one of these days our local workforce can stand up for ourselves.

Another thing I would ask Best Sunshine is if they can sell $500,000 worth of stocks to our local people. Show us that they really want to share a little of their business profit with us people. Why? I’ll answer like this. If Saipan Shipping, DFS, Mobil, UMDA, Hafadai Hotel, plus maybe two or more companies share their profit in stock and it does not kill their pockets, I am betting they will be more than happy to help! Come on, people, think local, think for the economy of our islands. You are there in that position to help. So help.

P.S.: To Ambrosio Bennett: I would like to ask you a question. Are you going to keep your 25-percent retro income? Remember, you were adamant against Best Sunshine putting up the casino. The 25-percent retro is from Best Sunshine’s casino license application. What a shameless person you are if you keep your 25- percent and its interest. I challenge you to refuse it. What a laugh you will give us locals if you touch it. But knowing the kind of person you are, go ahead take it, make our day!

Pedro “Pangie” DLG. Pangelinan
Finasisu, Saipan