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Babauta and retirement
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Posted on Jan 05 2006
Gov. Juan Nekai Babauta submitted his resignation as the plenary and designated titular head of the CNMI last month. According to the media, he was qualified for about 35 years of public service, reflecting positions with an agency of the Commonwealth and being an elected official in the capacity of senator, Washington representative and governor.
What is interesting is that during Babauta’s reign as the 6th governor for the Commonwealth from January 2002 until he officially ends his gubernatorial duties on Jan. 9, 2006, he was never consistent in keeping up with the government’s mandatory payments to the Retirement Fund. And if there was in fact a genuine and sincere desire on the part of Babauta to ensure that the Retirement Fund was funded adequately and consistently during his term as governor, then the dismal fiscal situation facing the Retirement Fund, which according to media accounts, is owed about $85 million, would not be the case.
Babauta is now history in terms of being governor and he certainly left a black eye and stain on the history books of the CNMI government. Leaving a complete fiscal mess with the Retirement Fund, as well as increasing the deficit by $100 million dollars is something he will need to live with during his retirement days. His success in terms of being responsible for the “financial ruin” of the CNMI government will no doubt be considered by Pacific Rim historians in the near and distant future to be unprecedented and never accomplished by any of his previous five gubernatorial predecessors.
And as Babauta awaits his monthly retirement check like all the rest of the qualified retirees in the CNMI during 2006, will he say that Governor Benigno R. Fitial is to blame for his check not reaching his island residence in a timely fashion?
Dr. Jesus D. Camacho
Delano, California
