FLASHBACK -July 30, 2012

July 30, 2001

Bill ’seduces’ educated locals to return home

Alarmed over the increasing trend of people studying outside the Commonwealth and staying outside, the Senate recently passed a legislative initiative that aims to create a recruitment program targeting CNMI citizens who have earned college degrees off island. Senate Legislative Initiative 12-6, SD1 primarily seeks to amend the CNMI’s Constitution, particularly the provisions on the annual appropriation, to set aside 5 percent of the total annual budget for the recruitment program. According to Sen. Pedro P. Reyes, the initiative’s author, many younger citizens of the CNMI who have gone abroad to study and have finished their college degrees are reluctant to return as there are no incentives or opportunities for them here.

NMC revises policy on non-US students

Foreign nationals with documented CNMI residency of more than three years are now classified as resident students under the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents’ new residency policy. This newly-adopted policy now enables NMC’s block of non-US citizen students to pay tuition equal to the rate imposed on resident students. The uniform tuition rate for resident students now stands at $65 per credit. Prior to this, NMC’s resident tuition structure ranged from $65 to $80 for courses starting from the 300-level and higher.

July 30, 2002

Rotary to raise $10K for Chuuk

The Rotary Club of Saipan will take over four radio stations on Saipan tomorrow in a one-hour marathon fundraising event aimed at collecting $10,000 for the typhoon victims in Chuuk. Saipan Rotary Club President Ed Salas disclosed yesterday that a series of fundraising efforts are slated this week to assist victims of Typhoon Chata’an. Chuuk, which was heavily devastated by the recent typhoon, is in need of medical supplies. Salas said the primary goal of the Rotary Club is to raise a substantial amount that would assist the Chuuk government in procuring the needed items.

Tinian trader, DOLI officer sued for bribery

A Tinian businessman accused of bribing a Labor and Immigration official over a month ago has been charged with the criminal offense before the Superior Court. John Hun Lee, 49, of the Tinian Hotel was sued on bribery raps amid allegations that he paid DOLI-Tinian officer Estevan King Jr. to commit an official act last June 14, 2002. The Attorney General’s Office also named King as a defendant in the bribery case, based on information filed at the trial court yesterday. Tinian Resident Head for Labor and Immigration Janet H. King, in an interview, expressed dismay over the AGO’s decision to prosecute the DOLI officer, whom she said was the one who reported the bribery incident.

July 30, 2003

Election reform bill signed into law

Gov. Juan N. Babauta stamped his approval yesterday on the election reform bill that was crafted to clear the controversy over the 10-percent requirement that precinct candidates must garner in order to have their political parties recognized. “The measure is to clarify that the intent of Public Law 12-18 Section 6003 (o)(3) is to require that each candidate must secure votes equal to 10 percent of the total number of voters who voted in the precinct election. “Therefore, all of the political parties recognized in the last election would continue to be recognized in the next general election since their candidates garnered the requisite number of votes in the last election,” explained Babauta in his transmittal letter to the presiding officers of the Legislature.

NMI mulls inviting Bush to drop by

Taking off on a suggestion by Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio, the Babauta administration is now drafting a letter inviting President George W. Bush to swing by the Marianas region on his way to the APEC summit in Thailand this coming October. Babauta told reporters yesterday that he has already received Tenorio’s letter and his office is now acting on the matter. “We are drafting a letter to invite the president to consider coming through here, through the CNMI, and that’s about all that we can do-extend the invitation to him,” said Babauta. Should Bush agree to the idea, Babauta said this would be a boost to the CNMI and would mark the first time that a sitting U.S. president would visit the Northern Marianas.