BOOST investigating committee moves to deliberation

The House of Representatives’ joint committee that is looking into the Torres’ administration’s Building Optimism, Opportunities, and Stability Together Program or BOOST program, has officially moved to the deliberation part of its investigative proceedings.

This comes soon after the conclusion of Bank of Saipan employee and BOOST Program administrator Karen Kalen’s testimony last Thursday.

According to co-chair Rep. Celina Babauta (D-Saipan), the joint committee will deliberate on the documents received from the witnesses, including correspondence among all those involved and records of BOOST disbursements, testimonies, and will ultimately forward the case to the proper enforcement agency.

“I can’t begin to understand why this all happened. This matter will be referred to proper authorities,” she said.

The joint committee—composed of the Ways and Means Committee and the Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee—mentioned that there will also be an upcoming review of the program by the U.S Inspector General.

Before the conclusion of the proceedings, committee member Rep. Joel Camacho (R-Saipan) stated that this program was something that could have greatly benefitted the CNMI community.

“That was over $15 million of ARPA money that could have even been converted to a stimulus and distributed to our people. I just want to apologize and empathize with all those businesses out there who were honest and diligent in submitting their BOOST packets, only to be sidelined. Hopefully there will be future opportunities for you all that is fair and well put together. To all the BOOST awardees, congratulations but I would highly recommend that you stick to the intended purpose of the funds given. There is so much uncertainty with forthcoming audits and reviews by the Inspector General,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Leila Staffler (D-Saipan) wants the committee to call in more witnesses, including contractors who were paid through BOOST funds, including Shayne Villanueva, Rob Travilla, Salina Sap, Frank Camacho, Perry Inos Jr., owners of Creatures, Ned Pablo, Joe Mesa, James Petite, and Jesse Ogo.

“I would like to request that the committee consider bringing in these individuals for more clarity on this program,” she said.

Rep. Tina Sablan (D-Saipan) echoed Staffler’s sentiment adding that she still hopes that the committee will call former Finance secretary David Atalig to testify on his involvement. “He isn’t off the hook and he certainly still has a lot of questions to answer,” she said.

Vice speaker Rep. BJ Attao (Ind-Saipan) said that because of how the BOOST program was ran, the CNMI has been put in a position that could potentially ruin its standing in terms of federal assistance.

“The way the program was ran, it puts the CNMI in a really bad position when it comes to future federal programs. The Inspector General and auditors will be here very soon. The CNMI was given over $2 billion to assist with disasters and the pandemic. But the way we’ve been utilizing these funds, its questionable. This doesn’t look good for the CNMI,” he said.