‘NMI no longer self-sufficient’

The Fitial administration is fully supportive of the $140 million funding request that Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio submitted to Congress, admitting that the CNMI is no longer a self-sufficient economy.

At the same time, the administration sees no threat of an eventual federal takeover resulting from such a financial bailout program.

“We are asking for help because we are broke. The government is under serious financial strain. It doesn’t have enough resources because of prior mismanagement, coupled with the decline in the economy, so we are looking to the federal government for assistance to provide a bridge to where we can be self-sufficient,” said press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. yesterday.

He said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial was fully aware of the budget submission to the federal government by Tenorio.

Tenorio said in a statement Saturday that he submitted the bailout budget plan to Congress on Thursday, asking the latter to appropriate $140 million for the operations of the CNMI government for fiscal year 2007.

Reyes said the budget assistance would only be “one-time.”

“It’s a one-time bridge assistance to help the Commonwealth get through its crisis and be able to manage its own affairs,” he said.

He said that, although the CNMI enjoys autonomy in its labor and immigration, it remains a U.S. territory.

“We are a territorial area. It’s been unfortunate that we’re hit very hard [by the] Japan Airlines pullout and closure of several garment factories,” he said.

He said the administration also believes that nothing in the CNMI-US Covenant would prohibit the Commonwealth from asking for federal appropriation.

Besides, he said, the matter would ultimately be “at the discretion of the U.S. Congress.”

Reyes said the administration treats such a budget assistance as “bridge financing.”

“It’s a financing to help us get to the other side. Right now, we are not self-sufficient,” said the press secretary.

Senate President Joseph Mendiola said he also supports the federal appropriation for the CNMI but if it carries a condition of federal takeover, “I won’t support it.”

“If the U.S. Congress can give us [the funding], it [would be] better for us. If there’s a condition, that would be a problem, I will not support it,” said the senator.

‘Swallow your pride’

House minority member Stanley Torres expressed no worries over the proposed federal appropriation.

He said the NMI government used to get huge budget assistance from the federal government until former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio reportedly told the U.S. government “to keep your money. We don’t need it.”

“So the federal government took the stance that, ‘Whenever you need money, come and beg for it.’ So we had this matching fund requirement for capital improvement projects. So I think there’s nothing wrong with that budget submission. It’s just a matter of asking for help. You just need to swallow your pride now and say I need help,” said Torres.

Further, Torres said that Tenorio should know what he is doing in Washington D.C., being a member of the CNMI-U.S. status negotiation in the ’70s.

“He knows that very well. He is part of the status negotiation,” the congressman said.

Tenorio said that he made nine separate requests to five different U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittees.

The $140 million proposed funding would be for operations of the central government, the Public School System, and Corrections, repairs to the Commonwealth Health Center as well as for fuel for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

Some funding would be used to close the Puerto Rico dump and construction of landfills on Rota and Tinian, expansion of the Marpi landfill, reconstruction of the Tinian harbor, and reconfiguration of the Rota Harbor.