Chamber to picket Senate to press repeal of 3-year limit

Lawmakers’ inaction on the repeal of the three-year limit law yesterday forced the Saipan Chamber of Commerce to picket the legislative building.

At least 25 businessmen, led by Chamber President Anthony Pellegrino, went up to Capitol Hill and discussed with Senate Floor Leader Pete Reyes their sentiment on the Senate’s seeming procrastination on House Bill 12-137.

HB 12-137 seeks to repeal Public Law 11-69 or the three-year limit law in its entirety.

“The three-year limit law was passed two years ago just to appease Washington, DC. The situation has changed since then. What I can’t understand is why our senators are making a political football out of it. What is there to think about?” the chamber president noted.

Mr. Pellegrino’s group also vowed to visit the Senate everyday until it finally repeals PL 11-69.

“Businessmen have agreed to come out in full force to the Senate everyday until this piece of legislation has been erased,” Richard Pierce, chamber vice president added.

He also inferred that members of the Chamber are set to sign a petition to simply repeal PL 11-69 which would be submitted to Senate President Paul Manglona today.

Along with the promise to picket the Senate grounds everyday, businessmen yesterday also carried with them the results of a Chamber poll on the three-year limit.

The survey, made to find out the sentiment of the business sector, showed that 83 percent of the Chamber’s membership was in support of the three-year limit’s repeal. At least 83 percent constitute 99.4 percent of the total number of employees in the Chamber.

On the other hand, 14.6 percent of respondents to the Chamber poll said they are not in favor of the three-year limit repeal. The figure represents a mere 0.6 percent of the total number of employees.

However, Mr. Pellegrino noted that most of those opposed to the repeal are small businesses who do not employ nonresidents in the first place.

The survey also showed that 19.6 percent of respondents will scrap expansion plans and other projects if the three-year limit is allowed to push through.

In a separate poll conducted by the website cnmi.net, close to 79 percent of respondents voted for PL 11-69’s expulsion and just nine percent favored its retention.