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‘Many support protest rally on Capital Hill’
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Posted on Jul 20 2008
The planned mass demonstration on Capital Hill to express people’s frustration with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has been receiving support from many people, according to a lawmaker.
Rep. Tina Sablan said that people expressed support for the idea of holding a protest rally on Capitol Hill during the public forum held at the Chacha Oceanview Jr. High School in Kagman.
“They asked if the Legislature cares about their suffering and why the Legislature is not doing more to defend them and they demand from them a solution to these problems,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune on Saturday.
With respect to the CUC-Aggreko contract, the lawmaker said people told the forum they don’t support it.
During Friday’s back-to-back legislative session, some of the people who attended the forum came to the session, she said.
“We invited them to testify on their comments about the bill [payment for Aggreko and other power producers]. Unfortunately the bill passed anyway. It was already arranged beforehand. That was unfortunate,” Sablan said.
She said the passage of the bill actually confirms the sentiment of a lot of people: that when the Legislature acts that way, “there is little regard for their thoughts and their feelings and their sense of what direction public interest should go.”
Sablan said the battle continues and that the CUC problems remain unsolved.
No date has been set yet on the planned demonstration but “it should happen soon,” she said.
Sablan said she and MP Magazine publisher Ed Propst, who organized the forum, were very happy with the outcome of the Kagman forum.
Although there were a couple of rosaries in Kagman at the time, she said over 70 people still showed up at the forum.
Reps. Rosemond Santos and Ed Salas also attended the forum.
Sablan said people are very motivated to do everything they can to reduce their utility bills.
“Some people said I don’t want to pay another penny to CUC more that I have to,” she said.
Last month, over 200 people showed up at the public forum held at the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe where they vented their frustrations with CUC, offered solutions, and called for its privatization.
