FLASHBACK – October 27, 2011

Govt prepares list of projects for $30M loan[/B]

The government is expected to receive within the next few weeks the initial batch of the $30 million loan it has secured from Bank of Guam to finance various infrastructure projects on the island, officials said yesterday. Mike Sablan, special advisor for finance and budget, and Rep. Karl T. Reyes, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, have begun mapping out a plan on how to tap the forthcoming funds as requested by bank officials. “We are working very closely with the Legislature on a drawdown schedule,” Sablan told reporters. This plan will include a list of priority projects as well as the amount and release schedule of money necessary to start construction.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation assures its customers this week that traffic is moving on Beach Road. The community utility is improving environmental protection projects along the scenic drive. According to CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez, negotiations to ease traffic congestion has been completed. To ensure that customers are now satisfied, utility staff tested the new construction schedule for seven days prior to this release. The utility ordered the contractor to make sure that two lanes of traffic are open at all times during the day. At sunset, workers will be allowed to use one lane of traffic for construction.

Feds turn over $12M to CNMI[/B]

Office of Insular Affairs Director Danny Aranza yesterday turned over $12 million in federal money to the CNMI as he pledged to tap other available resources to assist the Commonwealth government. A total of $11 million will be channeled for Capital Improvement Projects in Fiscal Year 2001, the appropriation set aside by the Department of the Interior under Covenant funding. The remaining $1 million is the federal government’s reimbursement to the Northern Marianas for the cost of hosting the immigrants from Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

A former Bank of Guam employee yesterday pleaded no contest to a bank fraud charge filed by the federal government in the U.S. District Court, waiving an indictment by a grand jury. Genevieve S. DeLeon Guerrero, 24, of Saipan, admitted guilt for misapplying and embezzling $11,045.85 which she took from BoG between May to December last year, according to court documents. District Judge Alex R. Munson set sentencing date on Feb. 6, 2001. Ms. Guerrero is free on bail of $25,000 unsecured bond. But the judge imposed conditions for her temporary freedom, such as securing employment except for jobs in any financial institution or those that will require her to handle money.

CUC offers biz opportunities to Japanese investors[/B]

Commonwealth Utilities Corp. officials invited Japanese investors to explore business partnerships in utility services in the CNMI during a one-day conference in Tokyo last week. The CUC, through a newly printed Profile Report, informed the Japanese business group mostly about opportunities in water services. Among those who joined the Tokyo trip that was headed by Gov. Juan N. Babauta were CUC board chairman Herman P. Sablan, executive director Lorraine A. Babauta, and board members Laura Manglona and Rufina Miles.

About 70 percent of Public School System elementary teachers, majority of them females, expressed satisfaction with their jobs, according to a dissertation made by Northern Marianas College vice president Chas Algaier, Ph.D. Algaier, in his over 100-page study, which he presented to the University of San Diego for his doctorate degree, found that the average or mean level of job satisfaction among public elementary school teachers on Saipan was 70.4 on a scale of zero to 100. However, he said, their levels of satisfaction varied within various factors. Teacher satisfaction scores ranged from a low of 42.9 to a high of 93.2. The low satisfaction had something to do with pay while two motivational factors-responsibility and the work itself-brought the most satisfaction, showing averages of 89.2 and 78.5 among those surveyed.