Pellegrino tells businessmen ‘Help educate community on value of hard work’

Newly-elected Saipan Chamber of Commerce President Anthony Pellegrino challenged the members Saturday to assist in educating the community about the value of business and hard work.

Mr. Pellegrino said the Saipan Chamber must act as “the guiding light and the catalyst” in bringing the private and public sectors together in reviving the island’s ailing economy.

Due to its strong influence in the community, the business organization’s role in creating an environment that will unite common goals can be done through a series of round-table discussions with the government.

“True change does not come from casting a vote for the right people and promoting more public policies. We cannot sit back and watch these people write new laws, or try to correct faulty policies to get our islands back on track,” Mr. Pellegrino said.

Saying the government has begun to take positive steps in reversing the decline of the economy as it has passed several major legislation last year aimed at making the CNMI investment-friendly.

Tourist arrivals have declined and many businesses have closed shop as a result of the regional crisis in July 1997. While the regional economic upheaval has tremendously affected the Northern Marianas, Mr. Pellegrino said there were already signs long before of the economic problems that will hit the islands.

“If the CNMI is to prosper again, it must stop blaming outside forces such as the Asian crisis and other causes. While very real, they are part of the problems, not the whole. We must search the why, where and how we went wrong. With this fundamental realization, we can begin our march back to recovery,” he added.

According to the Chamber head, the boom times experienced by the CNMI during the early years misled the people into believing that such prosperity would last forever.

Said Mr. Pellegrino: “We squandered our resources. We scared away many potential investors by insisting on unreasonable demands, and we alienated many of our present businesses. We felt we could demand anything we wanted without retribution. We also became greedy, wanting more without giving back anything. In all frankness, we had a rather arrogant attitude with overbearing pride.”

The Chamber leader said there will not be any change at all unless the people take responsibility in changing such attribute. Instead of whining and making excuses for not moving ahead, Mr. Pellegrino said it is time for the people to act on the problems.

After all, the mark of a successful and progressive community is what it does and how it uses its meager resources, he added.