FLASHBACK February 20, 2001-2003

Due to social promotion, CNMI gets ill-trained workers?[/B]

Like US mainland schools, Northern Marianas’ educational system produces its share of students who advance in the academic ladder through a nationally-recognized problem called social promotion. Board of Education Chair Anthony Pellegrino acknowledged the issue as a pressing dilemma in CNMI public schools, where students with slow learning skills are permitted to march to the next grade level to make way for a fresh slate of incoming students. “We are trying very hard to overcome this practice from continuing,” said Mr. Pellegrino. In such cases, some students whose reading and writing abilities are comparable to those in lower years are allowed to graduate for the basic reason of preventing a bottleneck of students in public educational institutions.

The NMI Retirement Fund might be compelled to pull out its major investments in Asia due to the continued economic crisis that has been invariably affecting the status of its investment portfolio. Fund officials already set the remaining three quarters of FY2001 to allow major Asian investments to rebound as recommended by portfolio managers although there are possible changes in terms of stocks and investments abroad by next year, NMIRF Board Chair Vicente Camacho disclosed Friday. Should investments in Asian region fail to move up and continue its down trend movement, NMIRF has no other alternative but to re-invest its stocks somewhere else where investments are likely to prosper.

Saipan’s water supply in danger[/B]

The proposed Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Training Facility at the Saipan International Airport poses a risk of contaminating Saipan’s best drinking water drawn from the Isley Well Field, the source of 60-percent of the island’s water supply. The facility, if erected at the proposed site, increases the risk of fuel release, and the contamination of the water source by firefighting foam and other wastes, according to the Division of Environmental Quality. “This [facility] includes tanks and piping for jet fuel, firefighting foam, and the disposal of several thousand gallons per training event of burn-pad cooling water, which will contain measurable quantities of both,” said DEQ deputy chief Antonio I. DeLeon Guerrero.

The good news is that, by September 30, 2000, the CNMI government had total assets of about $1 billion, total liabilities of about $324 million, and total fund equity of $696 million. The bad news is that, covering the same period, the General Fund had an accumulated deficit of $69.5 million and a net fund deficit of $33 million. These were just some of the highlights of two reports released by external auditor Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu on the Commonwealth’s financial statements ending September 30, 2000. The Office of the Public Auditor released the reports yesterday.

Puerto Rico dumpsite padlocked[/B]

CNMI officials led by Gov. Juan N. Babauta and Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente yesterday chained shut the gates of the Puerto Rico dump, with student representatives given the opportunity to padlock the gates. “I’m so glad that they finally closed it [dump]. It’s such an ugly view, especially for tourists,” said Aileen Alcala, a 9th grader at the Mt. Carmel School. Together with fellow student Christopher Ching, Alcala padlocked the gates of Puerto Rico in a final gesture that puts behind decades of efforts to rid the CNMI of this eyesore. Babauta described the momentous event as “a new era of respect for our natural environment.” “Today, we are closing the Puerto Rico dump and we are closing it forever,” Babauta said, at the same time gesturing as if throwing away a phantom key, provoking laughter among the audience. “We will restore this part of the lagoon to a healthy beach here on Saipan,” he added.