Reviewing performance

As we head into the 40th year of self-government, let’s take a quick glimpse at our performance, specifically the strengthening of our democratic institutions over the last four decades. I have been around to see most major events unfold throughout the period. It included the historic establishment of our constitutional government in 1978.

I’ve stood by the shifting sands of leadership change since then. I’ve met politicians who have sailed through the lagoon, leaving behind a legacy of either dignity or humiliation. Along the way, I also noticed having outlasted a lot of political careers that have sailed into the sunset forever. I’m still here, writing!

Yep! I have stepped on toes for legitimate reasons and I’m not ready yet to step aside in silence. I’m a believer in what Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Must speak up with a sense of purpose and civility.

Anyway, let’s compare notes for discussion purposes. We’ve begun the proverbial thousand-mile journey in self-government. It’s a very slow process in a democracy.

History: The CNMI witnessed the installation of its non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009 when Gregorio C. Sablan (Kilili) took his seat. The CNMI joined other territories with their delegates like Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. Kilili’s a charismatic leader who shines even more as a humble people person. Outstanding!

Misperception: Warp the perception that the CNMI is an independent country when discussing self-government. Nah! See Covenant Section 101 where we surrendered sovereignty. Effectively, we came under the huge umbrella of our national government or the “feds.” Let’s explore the umpteen programs available in D.C. so we begin a journey in partnership hence.

Lost: We once had control over immigration. We subsequently lost it, an important component in any meaningful effort to expand jobs and wealth creation. It’s now a dilemma that requires a big smile from Congress. Unfortunately, nobody’s smiling on Capitol Hill.

Fiscal: Does anybody know the financial posture of the NMI, e.g., old debts, current deficit, obligations, and revenue generation? Isn’t there blind acceptance of suspect tidings of a surplus? If we have a combined deficit of over a billion dollars, how is it possible that there’s a surplus? It’s another misperception that fails common sense.

How does this assertion fly against the tide of some 13,000 employees still earning poverty income level and below? In the midst of this negligence, legislators gave themselves a hefty 80-percent salary increase even in violation of pertinent constitutional provision. Again, revisit the same basic document with extra effort to understand it.

Ooops! Now politicos are scrambling to pacify civil servants with ill-conceived increases, clueless of its financial implications. But then someone once said that in politics “stupidity is not a handicap.” So it must be a forte!

How do you measure surplus versus a certain report asserting that for every dollar that we make we owe two dollars? Isn’t this a tale of the suspect fiscal posture of the CNMI? How do you plan to reconcile this deficiency? With some 4,000 employees we ask: how many of these jobs are political payoffs versus real government functions? Does it matter to taxpayers or “we the people”?

Moreover, pertinent constitutional provision says that expenditure of all public funds requires legislative appropriation. It’s the sole most vital authority of the House of Representatives. Yet none ever lifted a finger to demand the return of the $400,000 engineered by Biktot Hokog for his family’s business on Rota. Or is this negligence another instance of reading deficiency?

There are other issues we’ve overlooked, like the quality of healthcare at CHC. Has CHC become the Department of Medical Referral?

Espaldon: The fate of Guam Sen. James Espaldon is in the hands of his colleagues. The Guam Legislature’s Ethics and Standards investigative committee recommended this week that he be officially censured, stripped of his leadership positions for the remainder of the Guam legislative term…”

KUAM News reports that the committee “finds that General Pacific Services Marianas, Inc. and Robert and Amelia Toelkes paid for Sen. Espaldon’s meals, airfare, and other travel expenses in at least one trip to Korea and several trips to Saipan during his tenure, and that Sen. Espaldon engaged in these actions at least in part for his own personal gain by receiving something of value…” Saipan Rep. Ed Propst hurled that the issue is investigated.

An interesting result that brings into the forefront is the role that Robert and Amelia Toelkes played in the deal slammed into paralysis by Gov. Ralph Torres. I understand that the couple serves as alleged consultants for Lt. Gov. Biktot Hokog. Why am I not surprised at all?

Debunked: A Japanese blogger did online research whether Amelia Earhart was captured by the Japanese Imperial Army and brought to Saipan in 1937. He debunked it, saying it never happened. A source emailed the following:

“Just beyond the wharf, in the harbor, is a Japanese military vessel identified as the Koshu Maru. The documentary suggests that after this picture was taken, Earhart and Noonan were arrested and taken aboard the Koshu Maru and that a barge alongside contained the remains of their Lockheed Electra airplane. It’s supposed to head to Saipan.

“However, in 1982 a Japanese author and journalist, Fukiko Aoki, published a book in Japanese, Looking for Amelia. She found a surviving crewmember of the Koshu Maru, a telegraphist named Lt. Sachinao Kouzu.

“He told her that, like other Japanese ships in the western Pacific, they were told that Earhart had disappeared while over the ocean and were alerted to look out for any sign of the airplane and, if they did, seek to rescue Earhart and Noonan. After a few days, said Kouzo, the alert was dropped. At no time did anyone on Koshu Maru set eyes on the Americans, dead or alive.”