Reject legislative initiative –– Faisao

A legislator yesterday urged voters not to support a legislative initiative seeking to amend the CNMI Constitution to create separate finance offices for each branch of the government, saying the proposal will add another layer to bureaucracy that will burden taxpayers.

Rep. Melvin Faisao had opposed the initiative when it was tackled by the House of Representatives early this year, but it got enough votes from members to be included in the balloting for the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Senate Legislative Initiative 11-4 aims to change a constitutional provision to create a respective finance office within the Legislative Bureau as well as the Judicial Branch to control and regulate the expenditures of public funds appropriated to each branch.

It will also clip the powers of the Department of Finance to control and regulate funds earmarked for these branches of the government.

The proposal needs to get 50 percent plus one of the total number of votes cast during next month’s polls, which will also elect members of the House and the Senate, municipal councils and Board of Education.

According to Faisao, information regarding the initiative is not enough to educate the voters about its provisions which he claimed would only lead to more expenses for the government with the establishment of new offices.

“The public must not vote on the initiative due to the financial impact of the additional bureaucratic layer. Let’s use that money instead to alleviate other critical needs of the government, including scholarship and medical referral programs,” the representative said in an interview.

The initiative was prompted by mounting complaints from some members of the Legislature who have lashed out at the finance department for its alleged hardball approach on their requests to withdraw funds from each of their respective legislative accounts.

But Faisao, who was among the three representatives who voted against it, defended finance officials from the criticisms, noting that they are just complying with the regulations to ensure that funds are not misappropriated.

He said removing DOF’s control over the funds, taxpayers will have to shoulder the burden of two new finance offices that will carry out the same functions for the Legislature and the courts.

“It’s not worth it in light of the more pressing problems facing the CNMI, especially the scholarship program,” he explained. “It will be another waster of public resources.”