FLASHBACK December 29, 1998-2000

HANMI braces for worst
[/B] Hotel operators are bracing for the worst next year as the financial chaos that began more than a year ago in Southeast Asia shows no sign of improvement, according to Ron D. Sablan, president of the Hotel Association of Northern Mariana Islands. Asia’s economic problems dragged the Northern Marianas tourism economy into a double-digit plunge in tourist arrivals which resulted in an average occupancy rate of 50 percent for most hotels, he said. In 1999, Sablan said hotel occupancy may dip further or remain the same as this year. He is however hoping that the tourism economy will show some sign of improvement towards the end of 1999.

Local businesses continue to suffer without let-up from the year-long financial upheaval in Asia, pitching in less taxes to the government coffers in October at $8.82 million, or an 11 percent decline from the same period last year, according to the governor’s financial adviser. While the figure was 21 percent over projections of $7.28 million for that month, the Business Gross Receipts Tax collections still reflect sluggish business activities in the Northern Marianas. “Although we’re slightly ahead of BGRT projections, we’re still below last year’s,” said Michael S. Sablan, special advisor on finance and budget to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, “As we expected, this activity has been on a downside because of the economic slump.”

House divided on new student aid bill[/B]

Barely 10 months after capping government educational assistance at $15,000, lawmakers are proposing a new scholarship program that will grant up to $20,000 in financial aid to exceptional high school students for college here or in the U.S. mainland. But the House of Representatives was divided whether to grant such an amount in light of the financial difficulties confronting the Commonwealth which have reduced the budget set aside for scholarship. Because of the disagreement, Senate Bill 11-67, sponsored by Senate President Paul A. Manglona and passed in July 1998 by the upper house, was referred to the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare for further review.

Due to potential racial conflict, the House of Representatives yesterday voted down a legislative initiative seeking a constitutional amendment to refer to Chamorro as indigenous people of the Northern Marianas. “It’s sad that we have to make the distinction between the Chamorros and the Carolinians,” said Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, who acknowledged that he may be biased for disapproving the proposal because he has a Carolinian blood being part Yapese. He stressed that both races are minorities on the islands, noting that there are about 38,000 people here with Chamorro or Carolinian blood as opposed to 73,000 total population.

Budget talks collapse[/B]

The House and the Senate failed to hammer out a budget deal yesterday in yet another stalemate that is expected to force the government to use previous approved spending level to operate for the next nine months of FY 2001. House Ways and Means Committee chair Antonio M. Camacho informed the Senate that they were ending the bicameral conference after three previous meetings produced no pact. But his counterpart Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Sen. Edward U. Maratita said they would still press for a compromise with the House by early next year since there is no official word yet on the dissolution of the joint committee.

The State Board of Education yesterday voted against a Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council resolution requesting the Public School System to hire and station uniformed security guards in public school campuses. BOE member Esther Fleming strongly expressed opposition to the measure, saying that PSS students do not need to be exposed to a tight-security school environment at the risk of making them feel like “criminals.” “Our kids are very good kids. They’re not criminals. We don’t need security guards in uniforms to treat them as such. They are going through their pre-adolescent stage. This is precisely why we’re developing character education in schools,” said Ms. Fleming.