Majority bloc’s ‘arrogance’ piques Reyes

Stung by what he calls the arrogance of the Senate leadership toward the minority bloc, Sen. Pete P. Reyes warned House of Representatives lawmakers yesterday to diligently review all bills coming from the upper chamber to ensure that Saipan constituents are not put at a disadvantage.

During yesterday’s session of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Reyes, who is delegation chairman, told Saipan lawmakers of actions at the Senate that deliberately seek to exclude Saipan senators from participating, especially at the committee level, which he said could result in some bills being rammed through.

The minority bloc in the Senate is composed of all the senators from Saipan—Reyes, Thomas P. Villagomez and Ramon S. Guerrero—with Reyes serving as minority leader.

Reyes related that he was prompted to warn his fellow lawmakers in the House after an incident involving the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, which he said illustrates the “arrogant” attitude of the Senate leadership toward the Saipan constituency.

“As minority leader, I automatically became a member of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures. They’re required to notify me when there’s a leadership meeting so I can participate. So far, I have not seen an invitation for the minority leader. The rules committee met on April 2 without notifying me,” he said.

He said that when he pointed this out to Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano, who chairs the committee, Adriano merely told him that his presence in the committee is not necessary.

In a letter addressed to Reyes dated April 10, Adriano told the senator that there is no requirement in the Interim Rules of Senate Procedure that committee members be notified of a pending committee meeting. He added that, since any action by the committee will require a majority vote of the members, amendments to the Senate rules may be adopted by an affirmative vote of just five of the eight committee members.

“The presence of the minority leader is not required at all,” a portion of Adriano’s letter reads.

Reyes said this is a clear indication that the minority leader is not going to be invited at all since all it takes is common sense. In order to have a committee meeting, Reyes said one has to have committee members “and how can you have that if you do not invite them?”

“I view that letter as an arrogant reaction to the people of Saipan. I’m not insulted by that but I felt the insult for the people I represent and I warned the members of the members of the House of Representatives since they are mostly from Saipan to know how their senators are being treated up here,” he added.

Reyes described Adriano’s letter as an extremely arrogant reaction reflective of shallow thinking. “It is an impulsive reaction that shows what happens when one engages the mouth before the brain,” he added.

He said this situation will have a far-reaching influence on the legislative process, hence his reason for putting Saipan representatives on notice. “I warned them that they should be diligent in watching what kind of legislation passes through the Senate because, even during the second session only, it was already a hostage of one reprogramming bill,” he said.

Reyes said the House lawmakers supported his position on the matter.

The Saipan Tribune tried to obtain Adriano’s side of the matter but he was unavailable for comment.

Senate President Paul A. Manglona, however, viewed the issue as unfortunate and said he would try to ask both the minority and the majority members to put aside their differences and focus on the bigger picture of reviving the CNMI’s economy.

“It’s very unfortunate that this thing is continuing to exist. It has always been my hope that we can set aside politics. Unfortunately, it’s obvious that there are still some ill feelings. If there was a concern with the Committee on Rules, if there was a misunderstanding with the committee as far as meeting dates, I’m sure that, maybe, it was just one occasion and I hope that this kind of miscommunication do not happen again,” Manglona said.

The Senate President stressed that he is more worried about the bigger picture—about the economy and the impact of the reduction in revenue—so “I would try to do my best to have all the members put this politics behind us so we can move on.”

House Vice Speaker Manuel Tenorio urged delegation members in yesterday’s session to request the leadership in both the House and the Senate to meet together and try to mend differences.

“There is some degree of animosity brewing between the House and the Senate, for no good reasons. So, it’s time we take this seriously because we’re faced with a bad situation here. The economy is not improving. We’re banging heads with the administration now and I don’t believe that a confrontation is the best approach to solve our problems,” he said.