Smooth transition assured

Outgoing Gov. Juan N. Babauta vowed yesterday to facilitate a smooth transition of power to his successor, House Speaker and governor-elect Benigno R. Fitial.

“First, I would like to congratulate the speaker and the vice speaker [Timothy Villagomez] on winning this election. I will do anything to make the transition as smooth as possible. All the books and records will be made available to them,” Babauta said in an interview.

Babauta said he plans on working up to his last day in office and continuing some of his administration’s ongoing projects. Among these projects are the Water Task Force’s smart meter installation and leak detection programs, the construction of an ocean outfall in Agingan, coral reef protection efforts, and the government’s recycling program.

Looking back at the past four years, the governor expressed belief that he and Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente did a lot of good things for the Commonwealth.

Some of the accomplishments he wants his administration to be remembered by are:

* the delivery of 24-hour water service to 70 percent of Saipan (only 40 percent of the island had round-the-clock water supply when the Water Task Force was created, according to Babauta);

* the expansion of the Commonwealth Health Center;

* the closure of the Puerto Rico dump and the opening of the Marpi sanitary landfill;

* the Commonwealth’s much-improved relations with the federal government; and

* numerous infrastructure projects.

According to Babauta, the next administration should carry on the reforms made to the CNMI’s labor and immigration system to ensure continued support for the proposed amendment of Headnote 3(a).

The amendment would give products imported from U.S. insular possessions the same treatment as products imported from countries with which the United States has entered into a free trade agreement. It would allow the garment manufacturers in the CNMI to increase the value of imported raw materials from 50 percent to 70 percent. This means that the local value-added content of garments made in the CNMI would be reduced to 30 percent.

The governor believes that Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, who used to be a critic of the CNMI’s garment industry, would not have co-sponsored the bill amending Headnote 3(a) if no labor and immigration improvements were made by the current administration.

“Senator Akaka’s co-sponsorship of the Headnote 3(a) amendment was the true test of our good federal relations. He used to be very critical of the garment industry because he believed a lot of labor abuses stemmed from it. But he recognized that we cleaned house. The next administration should continue those reform efforts. I think there’s a chance Senator Akaka would withdraw his support if these programs were not continued,” he said.

He also urged Fitial’s incoming administration to push for the $50-million budget for the Public School System; increase PSS’ constitutionally guaranteed funding from 15 percent to 25 percent of the government’s total budget; and to support the Governor’s Education Initiative that aims to give a laptop to each junior high school student.

Furthermore, the governor asked Fitial to keep the maintenance schedule for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s power generators, to continue to work with Mobil regarding CUC’s fuel supply, and to prepare to find an alternative source of funding to support CUC if the fuel surcharge would be scrapped.