Flashback – Nov. 2, 1999-2001

Kagman homestead, CHC expansion top project list[/B]

Homestead development in Kagman and the expansion of the Commonwealth Health Center are two priority projects being eyed by the Legislature under the $30 million loan secured by the government from Bank of Guam.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Karl T. Reyes said a forthcoming appropriation measure will specifically set aside to both plans the bulk of the money from the loan and federal construction grants under the capital improvement projects.

Part of the interim financing ahead of a bond float, the loan will match an equal amount of CIP/702 Covenant funding which will give the CNMI some $60 million in fresh funds to undertake various infrastructure development.

Division of Environmental Quality Director Ignacio Cabrera has urged the people to limit their visit in the Lower Base cemetery if they could not refrain from going to the site because of the high concentration of the cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls in the area.

Despite warnings, a number of people still visited the cemetery yesterday, ignoring appeals by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to stay away from the cemetery to avoid contact with soil contaminated with PCBs.

Bishop shuns abortion pill[/B]

Bishop Tomas A. Camacho said yesterday he was dismayed over reports that the Food and Drug Administration has recently approved an abortion pill which he described as an “assault on the sanctity of life and on individual unborn children.”

In a statement faxed to the media, Bishop Camacho objected to the sale and distribution of RU-486, or the mifepristone, citing the legalized abortion drug curtails the growth of innocent lives.

“How many more ways can we create to strike at the most holy of gifts God has given us, the ability to co-create new life? This is not just a question of choice, for an unborn child is not a mere appendage to the body of another. That child is a new life entrusting its very existence to that other,” the bishop said.

Government revenues during the first six months of the financial year 2000 dropped nine percent to $101.3 million from the average $111.45 million in the same period last year, according to a report obtained from the commerce department.

Officials said the first half decline in government earnings is a clear indication that the Northern Marianas economy continues to rally weaker than the pre-1997 period although most Asian economies have already bounced back.

Finance managers blame the significant drop in revenue collection during the first half of the Fiscal Year 2000 to the weak consumer confidence which continue to prevail on the island, aggravated by the sudden shift in the spending habits of CNMI visitors.

NMI to name new governor tomorrow[/B]

Thousands of Northern Marianas voters are expected to troop to various polling precincts tomorrow to seal the fate of the next CNMI governor.

This, as a myriad of tactics and mudslinging flew during the last few hours of the campaign period, in desperate efforts by some candidates to win a government seat in the November 3 election.

Republican Party candidates allegedly coerced employees to attend political rallies and vote for GOP bets in exchange for employment in the government.

The GOP was also accused of forcing their way in to conduct campaign sorties in several areas in the Northern Marianas regardless of schedules and other parties’ campaign.