Previous Story
Apatang to nominate Tudela
David M. Apatang
“I’ll be nominating Antonia Tudela to the vacant position at the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council. She’s been there at the municipal council for a long time already and she’s got experience. As a matter of fact, she is the chairperson at this time. Also, while I was away on personal leave, she’s been acting mayor,” said Apatang in an interview with Saipan Tribune last Friday at the Saipan Mayor’s Office in Oleai.
The Saipan mayor said it’s almost a no-brainer for him to nominate Tudela.
“I have no problem with her. She’s a good councilwoman. She’s also very active. The Northern Islands mayor also nominated her,” he said.
Tudela said she’s humbled with Apatang and Northern Islands Mayor Jerome Aldan’s gestures to nominate her for the vacant post at the council.
“My term is already ending. If the mayors appoint me, it’s going to be my seventh. I already served 12 years. I’ve been chairperson before, vice chair, as well as secretary. I’m very happy mayor Apatang and mayor [Jerome] Aldan are thinking of appointing me. I’m really overwhelmed with that,” she told Saipan Tribune during an interview last Friday at the Kiosku Round House in Chalan Kanoa.
The Northern Islands Legislative Delegation will have to approve Tudela’s nomination.
Antonia Tudela
The event will have Kaipat and Castro taking their oaths of office. That will also serve as the end of Tudela’s term as chairwoman and councilor of the 13th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council. Apatang already confirmed that as soon as that happens he will immediately nominate Tudela to the vacant post.
Only Castro and Kaipat ran for the three positions available for the council during the 2016 general elections. The former topped the vote with 8,308 votes; the latter got 7,004.
Alice Igitol, who is the current vice chair, won a seat in the House of Representatives in the same polls, while Reina Camacho opted not to run for another term. Tudela failed to file her certificate of candidacy as she had a health scare in Guam.
“I went to Rota for a meeting and I got sick. I was on Rota because we had a meeting with all the mayors of the CNMI and Guam. On my way back I had to transit to Guam and I felt sick,” Tudela told Saipan Tribune.
“I went to a hospital and the doctor told me to take the medicine and said it looked like I was going to have pneumonia,” she said, adding that she failed to come back to Saipan to file her candidacy because she decided to prioritize her health first. “Especially at my age.”
Tudela said she’s now fit as a fiddle and is raring to make a comeback.
“I’m OK now and I’m coming back. We don’t get paid and it’s voluntary. It’s in my blood to help the people and assist the community. As long as I have my health I will continue to work at the municipal council,” she said.
Tudela said her track record also speaks for itself.
“We accomplished a lot, like helping continue the Neighborhood Watch, collaboration with the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, and government agencies like the Office of Indigenous Affairs,” she said.
She no longer plans to seek the council’s chairmanship.
“I think those two have decided. I will give them—Castro and Kaipat—the chance [to lead] because they’re elected. I think there’s an agreement between the two of them already who’s going to be the chair. It’s going to be through acclimation. I’m very happy to support whoever becomes the chairman.”
