New Senate leadership bared

The Covenant Party has secured majority in the 15th Senate, with one Democrat, one Republican, and one independent senator aligning themselves with the ruling party.

The next Senate majority will be composed of Covenant Party’s Joseph M. Mendiola, Henry H. San Nicolas, and Felix Mendiola, as well as independent Sen. Pete P. Reyes, Republican Sen. Paterno Hocog, and Democratic Sen. Maria Frica Pangelinan.

This leaves current majority floor leader Paul Manglona, his fellow Republican Sen.-elect Jude Hofschneider, and Democratic Sen. Luis Crisostimo in the minority bloc.

The majority has chosen Joseph Mendiola to be the next Senate president and Reyes the vice president. Pangelinan will be the secretary and Felix Mendiola will be the treasurer.

“I’m very honored,” Tinian Sen. Joseph Mendiola said of his colleagues’ decision to install him as the next Senate president. “The biggest responsibility of a Senate president is to be able to look at the CNMI as a whole. But with the support of Senator Reyes and everybody, my job is going to be easier.”

Under his leadership, Mendiola said, the Senate would focus on working with the administration and the House of Representatives in passing legislation that would improve the economy.

Currently the chairman of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, Mendiola also vowed to control government spending and ensure that a budget is passed each fiscal year. “I will make sure that we live within our means,” he said.

He also said that the Senate would look at getting rid of statutes that make it difficult for investors to come into the Commonwealth.

“We will make our government an efficient, honest, and open government,” Joseph Mendiola added.

Gov.-elect Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov.-elect Timothy P. Villagomez, along with “incoming House Speaker” Oscar Babauta, met with the group at the Marianas Resort and Spa yesterday.

In the meeting, Fitial and Villagomez expressed their support for the new Senate leadership.

Only Hocog, a Rota senator who ran under the Republican banner, did not make it to the meeting. But Joseph Mendiola confirmed that Hocog was with the majority.

For his part, floor leader Manglona said he was hoping that elected officials would have a harmonious relationship when the new administration comes in. “I hope we can all work together for the good of the Commonwealth people,” he said.