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NMI flags at half-staff
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres has directed all offices and instrumentalities of the Commonwealth government to lower all U.S. and CNMI flags to half-staff in honor of the late Northern Islands mayor Jerome Kaipat Aldan.
Aldan passed away last Saturday.
In a proclamation he released on Monday, Torres said that all flags in the CNMI should remain at half-staff until Aldan’s interment.
The 43-year-old Aldan was an advocate for the resettlement of Pagan Island in the Northern Islands. All of its people were evacuated back in 1981 due to active volcanic eruptions. Aldan also advocated against the U.S. military’s plan to use Pagan as a live-fire training site, stating in previous interviews that the live-fire training would ruin the island, rendering any attempts to resettle useless.
Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council member Antonia Tudela told Saipan Tribune that she is extremely saddened by the sudden passing of the mayor.
“I know that Mayor Aldan was really working hard to help the people from the Northern Islands,” said Tudela. “He was doing really good with the homestead program [on Pagan] and the agriculture on the island.”
Tudela confirmed with Saipan Tribune that the late mayor will have a state funeral. Details are still being worked on.
