Governor says 3rd term will be his last

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio said Friday he would not run for another term in the 2001 elections, as his erstwhile political rival, former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio, gears up to reclaim the governorship under a new political party.

Tenorio, who is serving his third full four-year term, said in an interview that “I’m not going to seek reelection.”

“I made a commitment before I ran for public office again that this is going to be my last term,” he said. “I’m happy that I’m trying to do my best to serve the community.”

While the incumbent leader is planning how he would spend his second retirement from public office when his tenure ends two years from now, his nephew is busy organizing the Reform Party, a new political party he launched Friday to bring him into the helm of power he held from 1994 to 1997.

In a meeting which he called a pre-launching of the party, the ex-governor told supporters the political organization offers solutions that will solve the current economic slump and thwart Washington’s plan to take control of local immigration and minimum wage.

“With the economic condition that we have now, I don’t see the Republicans turning around the economy,” Froilan told reporters. “The solution is not new Republican legislators. The solution is the Reform Party legislators.”

Disappointed with the disunity and intramurals within the Democratic Party, the former CNMI leader broke away from the party that brought him to power in 1997. He said infighting has allowed the Republicans to control the local political system for the last 20 years.

In 1997 the incumbent governor won 45.6 percent of the total votes cast against Froilan in a three-way fight that included independent candidate, then Lt. Gov. Jesus C. Borja.

Tenorio, a reluctant candidate in the beginning after having been away from politics for eight years since his last term that ended in 1990, previously said he wanted to restore harmony in the Commonwealth divided by political bickerings.

Tenorio’s popularity had helped him reclaim the governorship and won support of the indigenous people who remembered him as the leader that brought the island economy into its golden years of prosperity against his predecessor’s tenure when the businesses started to feel the pinch of the Asian crisis.

But Froilan promised to restore business confidence, stir the economy, provide more jobs and stave off federalization, tasks the Republicans have failed to adequately address, he said.

When sought for comments regarding the establishment of the Reform Party his nephew, Tenorio said, “It’s healthy. We wish them good luck.”