Only 2 of 29 lawmakers show up at Kilili’s townhall

Only two of 29 invited members of the CNMI House of Representatives and Senate showed up at Tuesday night’s townhall hosted by Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan, wherein community members aired their concerns and exchanged ideas about the high cost of power, the slow economy, and HR 1466.

Sablan said he’s glad that Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan) and Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) were able to directly face community members on a host of issues.

There are 20 members of the House, and nine from the Senate.

Some lawmakers interviewed yesterday gave different reasons for not being able to join Sablan at the townhall. But it was only Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan) who believes that most of “27 others” who did not attend “are snub, but most of them will have their own excuses.”

Torres said he did not attend because the invitation stated that the discussion would focus on non-federal matters. “I wanted to hear about federal issues…we already know about local issues,” he said.

At the townhall itself, held at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe, discussions involved both local and federal matters.

Torres said one of the possible reasons why many of the House members didn’t attend was because they, just like him, voted “yes” last week on a resolution that in essence rejects Sablan’s HR 1466. Only six minority members supported Sablan’s bill.

HR 1466 proposes a “CNMI-only resident status” for a limited group of people.

Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan) said he totally forgot about the townhall, but he would have attended it. But he said he has been seeing Sablan almost every time the delegate is in the CNMI.

Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), for his part, said he wasn’t able to join because he had a meeting with the Kagman Neighborhood Watch in his precinct.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said he was at a meeting on Saipan on Tuesday night, but he said he makes it a point to be at Sablan’s townhall on Rota.

He said he supports the delegate’s regular townhall, which gives people an opportunity to directly hear from the delegate on issues in Washington, D.C. and in the CNMI.

Sen. Frank Cruz (R-Tinian) said he’s always supportive of the delegate, but he wasn’t able to attend because of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee’s budget hearings on Tinian on Tuesday night.

Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian) said he was also at the budget hearings on Tinian, and also expressed support for the delegate.

Other lawmakers asked did not respond to questions as of press time.

Sablan invited the 29 lawmakers, Saipan Mayor Donald Flores and acting governor Eloy S. Inos. But Sablan said he understood that the acting governor won’t be able to attend because he’s still mourning his wife’s passing. Sablan didn’t invite Gov. Benigno R. Fitial because he knew the governor would be off-island anyway.

The delegate has been holding townhall meetings since he first got elected as the CNMI’s first nonvoting delegate to Congress. Tuesday night’s added feature was supposed to be the 30 other elected officials he invited.

One community member, Richard Puhalla, lauded the delegate for doing a good job. Puhalla also said amid the problems in the western district of Garapan—including abandoned and unsightly buildings, overgrown and rat-infested vegetation, and garbage—CNMI lawmakers seemed to be more focused on banning people from hanging their underwear where tourists could see them.

“Is that the best our elected leaders could do? …Do not waste your time with little things,” Puhalla said.

Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan), author of the bill that Puhalla was talking about, stood up and said it was only one of the many steps the Legislature has taken to help tourism.

At 8:07pm, when Palacios was addressing the townhall, the lights went off. That was only a few minutes after community members complained about the high cost of power in the CNMI and the need to use alternative or renewable energy.

Yumul, for his part, talked about HR 1466, which he said should be carefully read and understood by members of the community.