‘Touchback’ delay eyed

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) served as one of the guest speakers of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s general membership meeting yesterday at Kensington Hotel Saipan. (MARK RABAGO)

While conceding that it will be an uphill battle, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) said he is working on a bill that seeks to put off the implementation of the “touchback” requirement for CNMI-Only Transitional Workers.

“I will soon introduce legislation to delay the touchback requirement for another two or three years,” he said in an email to Saipan Tribune.

Sablan did touch on the touchback rule as one of the speakers of yesterday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting at Kensington Hotel Saipan, but he stopped short of stating his plans to introduce a bill to delay its implementation.

“It will be very difficult to get the touchback delay legislation in this Congress. But we are going to try our best,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Under U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ touchback requirement, foreign workers with “CW” work visas must leave the CNMI for at least 30 days after two renewals of their CW-1 visa classification.

Starting off on right foot

Sablan said he did reach out to Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang as soon as they were inaugurated.

“Of course I’ve extended my hand of cooperation to past governors and I’ve done the same to Gov. Palacios and Lt. Gov. Apatang and they also said we’ll work together,” he said during the Chamber meeting.

Sablan said he also met Palacios several times when the islands’ chief executive visited Washington, D.C. last month for a series of meetings. That’s when he realized that he actually has spent more time with Palacios in the two months since his inauguration compared to his predecessor, former governor Ralph DLG Torres, in the four years he was in power.

In his discussions with Palacios, he bluntly told Chamber members that he offered no silver bullets to solve the economic morass the islands are experiencing.

“But the governor has my commitment that I will do as much as I can and I will give him my full cooperation. I want the Chamber to know that upfront.”

Fiscal mess

Sablan also talked about the previous administration’s alleged mismanagement of the nearly $500-million American Rescue Plan Act funds.

“I don’t know how much money $500 million is. This has to be said out aloud. It has come to a point where the governor doesn’t just need an accountant to find out where the $500 million was appropriated. He needs a forensic accountant to trace what happened [to the money]. This is really something we should be concerned about because this is going to come back and bite us,” he said.

The now eight-term delegate to the U.S. Congress said there’s still light at the end of the tunnel, though, in the form of federal assistance and grants.

Sablan said he recently met with Chris Concepcion and his staff at the Office of Planning and Development and they gave him an update on the Garapan Revitalization Project, which is funded by federal monies.

And that’s just one project out of a multitude of federally funded projects in the CNMI, according to him.

Palacios requests

Sablan said Palacios didn’t only ask for his help in tackling the touchback rule, but also other immigration matters.

“I promise you that I will cooperate with the governor. I’ve been asked to do several things and one of which involved immigration and right now it’s going to be difficult with this Congress; it’s going to be tough. It was tough in the last Congress and it’s going to be much tougher now.”

The new administration’s laundry list also includes removing the current cap on CW workers and a setup similar to Guam’s that would finally enable the CNMI governor instead of the U.S. Department of Labor to issue temporary recertification for CW-1 visa applications.

“It’s not that I don’t know, it’s just that there are things I’m just not able to do because of the politics in Congress,” he said, adding that when H.R. 560 was tackled in committee, one member raised the question whether the Chinese in the CNMI are a national security concern.

H.R. 560 seeks to grant permanent resident status for long-term foreign workers who’ve been living in the CNMI since 2015.

“I don’t want to pour on more but these are serious times. I don’t see how to get out of this easily, especially for those businesses having trouble with the touchback rule. …I’m trying my very best but the member who blocked it last time had another issue and, without his consent it won’t get anywhere and then you need the majority of the majority. In the GOP conference you need a majority of that to pass and I’m not in the majority,” said Sablan.

Senate President Edith DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) also served as the other guest speaker of yesterday’s Chamber meeting where she talked about the CNMI’s current tumultuous fiscal position and what needs to be done to rectify it.

Details of her presentation will be published in tomorrow’s issue of Saipan Tribune.