‘Lack of customs, quarantine inspectors due to austerity measures hurt businesses’

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Douglas Brennan is seeking a meeting with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and the directors of Customs and Quarantine divisions over the negative impact of having inadequate number of customs and quarantine inspectors at the ports because of the government’s austerity measures.

“The austerity measures are adversely affecting commerce for our businesses, as well as the consumers that purchase our products that can now wait in containers at the seaport for additional days as a result of those austerity measures,” Brennan said in a Dec. 9 letter to the governor.

Customs and quarantine officers are not exempt from the 16-hour work cut biweekly.

Brennan cited as perfect example the events on Friday wherein there was only one quarantine officer available to man all ports where cargo needing inspection entered the CNMI.

“That officer was at the Saipan International Airport, leaving the seaport unattended. There were cargo delivery delays, which in turn lead to lost revenue for both businesses and the CNMI government,” he said.

In his requested meeting, Brennan said he would also like to address customs and quarantine officers’ pays. He said officers scheduled for additional duty on austerity days, as well as weekends, are only receiving base rate pay, not overtime, as a result of austerity measures.

“This has created an atmosphere of unwillingness on the part of inspection officers that must come to work on days other than regular service for Customs and Quarantine,” Brennan said.

He said exacerbating this is that overtime rates are based on presented bill of ladings versus actual hours where CNMI personnel are present.

“The sum total of consignees sometimes pays $2,000 to $4,000 per day clearing cargo,” he added.

As of yesterday, there is no scheduled meeting yet between the Chamber, the governor, Customs director Jesus Muna, and Quarantine director Tom Castro.

The governor’s Oct. 13 memo expanded the austerity measures to include federal funded agencies and other previously exempt agencies such as Customs and Quarantine.

Fitial is only allowing certain personnel from three government agencies to be exempt: the departments of Public Safety and Corrections and the Emergency Management Office.