A few thoughts on the SOCA

The governor’s State of the Commonwealth address failed to adequately give the people of the Commonwealth a realistic assessment of the true state that the Commonwealth is in. The speech was too long, too superficial, too general, and at times self-congratulatory. Indeed, after you have finished reading the governor’s remarks, you find yourself asking the question: What really is the state or condition that the Commonwealth is in?

Are the people of the Commonwealth better off today than they were two to four years ago? Are the people of the Commonwealth today receiving the essential public services that they need, in such basic areas as education, public health, public safety, the environment, employment of local residents, and so forth? Or is the Commonwealth still “treading water” as it has been doing for several years now? What concrete economic plan or improvements have our government leaders undertaken during the past two to four years, aside from the exclusive casino license that was awarded to Best Sunshine?

In order to have a realistic picture of the true state of the Commonwealth, the governor has to provide the people with specific facts and figures to back up his general statement that the Commonwealth is indeed improving under his administration, both economically and in terms of the quality of life of its residents. While it is true that the tax revenue that was generated during the past fiscal year has increased from the years when we were experiencing economic recession, we are not “out of the woods” yet.

Indeed, the real danger facing the Commonwealth this day was the decision of our leaders two to three years ago to put all of our eggs in one basket. Our leaders took a huge gamble and decided to place our entire fate and fortune on an untested casino industry that was exclusively licensed to a single operator. If for any reason (which I hope and pray would not happen) the exclusive casino licensee encounters any major setback with its business operations, the economic fate of the Commonwealth would similarly suffer the same major setback.

Whenever we talk about the present state of affairs or the general condition of any jurisdiction including the Commonwealth, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the quality of life of its residents. Then we ask: how is its economy? Is it a healthy place to live in? Is it a safe community? Does it have good schools? Is it a nice place? Does it have a clean environment? These are some of the basic questions by which a place is assessed.

For the Commonwealth, therefore, the pertinent question to ask is: where are we now insofar as our political, economic and social development is concerned? Are we really improving, or are we barely making ends meet? If we are improving, then why do we still see so many of our people getting sick from complications with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and so forth. It is my opinion that in the area of public health the state of the Commonwealth is still sub-standard, not unlike the substandard public health conditions that we see in developing countries. Indeed, public health service has actually turned for the worse after the Commonwealth Health Center was made a government corporation (without a governing board) several years ago.

With respect to public safety, we continue to see an increase in the number of crimes being committed in the Commonwealth every year. These include crimes of assault and battery, domestic abuse, burglary and robbery, homicides, the upward spike in drug-related crimes and addiction, and so forth. Such increase in crime in our community is testing the limited resources of our criminal justice system, particularly the increase in drug abuse cases.

Thus the critical question that must be addressed by the governor and our policymakers is whether the Commonwealth has improved in the area of public safety. And the answer to this is clearly “No.” As an example, so many of our residents for several years now are afraid of leaving their homes, even during the day, for fear that their residence might be burglarized. It would be enlightening for the governor to provide the people with figures and statistics on the subject of crime in the Commonwealth and inform us of the concrete plans he has to effectively fight such addictive drugs as crystal meth.

Next, is the Commonwealth improving in the area of public education? Again, we need facts and figures to show the progress we have made over the past several years in the area of education. Could we know, for example, how many of our students graduate each year from high school? How many of these graduates go on to college? How many are hired locally (by the private sector and by the government) after high school? How many of them remain unemployed due to lack of skill or interest? And are we making a strong effort to have these individuals gainfully employed?

The oft-quoted statement that “our most valuable resource is our people” rings hollow when we still see so many of our residents remain unemployed, yet we continue to ask the federal government, year after year, to increase the cap on nonresident workers. Why? Have we exhausted the supply of local workers?

I could go on and on into other areas of concern to the people of the Commonwealth, such as the environment and our natural resources, but I believe that the foregoing discussion will hopefully encourage a serious dialogue among our government and business leaders so that the future of this Commonwealth and its people will indeed be positive and beneficial to all. For starters, a concrete plan of action (in writing and adopted by our leaders after serious deliberation) with respect to each area of public service appears to be in order.

Jose S. Dela Cruz
Koblerville, Saipan