Excuse me?!

Hafa adai, tiroow waami, and good day Marianas. I finally got a chance to sit and watch a good portion of John Gonzales’ show on the topic of legalizing casino on Saipan. I must say that I didn’t watch it in its entirety. It was torture listening to House Reps. Eli Cabrera, Felicidad Ogumoro, and Joseph Palacios preach about how casinos are the only fix to our ailing economy. Casinos, they say, would fix all our problems and bring us back into the good old days. They avoided the questions and instead continued their condescending lectures about how life is so hard and therefore we must pass this bill without any further delay. It was painful, to say the least.

I’d like to ask these House reps why they feel they must go against the people’s wishes and pass a bill to legalize casinos. I understand that they’ve spoken to “their constituents” but why can’t we put it up for another referendum? Why must they pass a bill without getting another accurate picture of how the majority feels about all this? Are we to just accept their decisions and believe that they know what‘s best for us?

Palacios and Cabrera stated that they’ve never “heard” of crimes at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino. Are we supposed to just take their word for it? Instead, they should show us proof that they’ve done research and have concrete evidence that no crime has ever been committed there. It is not a secret that gambling brings in scores of social ills. So representatives, have you ever spoke to the people on Tinian about what sort of social issues plague their island? This is not a risk that everyone is comfortable with and definitely not everyone is willing to let you decide this for us. Show us the research you’ve done and no, we’re not asking you to take “fact-finding” trips to Macau and Vegas. It’s amazing what the Internet can do for you; just ask the kids.

Ti mudoru hami, todus ham en tingu’ na makkat I lina’la’ pa’go. Ti nisisariu na pon sangani ham put I baban ekonomia. We don’t need any politician to remind us that we’re in the “danger zone” or that we’re “suffering.” We’re reminded every day by having to make sacrifices none of you can even fathom!

So please, get to work on revitalizing our tourism industry! Marianas Visitors Authority needs a massive overhaul. I’m glad to hear that Commissioner Mafnas of DPS is looking into beefing up security in Garapan. Our leaders should call him up and offer their support. Our visitors need to feel safe before even considering to visit our islands.

As for trying to attract investors, why don’t we start by supporting our businesses that are already on island. How are we supposed to attract outside investors when our local businesses can’t even get their products from the port due to Customs delays? I’ve yet to hear about how any of you are taking steps to address this issue. I’m sure these investors would be more concerned about their businesses being able to run smoothly here versus how courteous our law enforcement at the airport are to them.

The one thing I do like about the new casino bill is that poker arcades are to be phased out of our villages. But again, are we to just take their word for it? They mentioned on the talk show that these poker arcades are crime ridden and unsafe for our villages. How about they show us how serious they are by phasing them out now!

They need not be reminded that the people have lost confidence in the legislative and executive branches of our government. They must be proactive and find out which hotels are willing to take in these poker arcades. Let’s see how this works. Once the people have confidence in how gambling is conducted in these hotels, we can revisit the casino issue and put it up for another referendum.

Again, we don’t need to be reminded that these are harsh times and that we need another industry now. But please, let’s master our current industry, which is tourism and then we shall think about something else.

On a side note, I’d like to ask that everyone please do your part in keeping our islands clean. Talk to your children and others about how important it is. You’ve all probably heard that “tourism is everyone’s business.” It is very true, so please let’s all do our part to attract more visitors. Our beaches are the No. 1 reason why tourists visit, so please be especially aware of litter on our beaches. I saw on TV that Guam has started a litterbug program where people can call a hotline to report litterbugs. This is a good idea, I hope DPS can also look into implementing this in their enforcement efforts.

Kudos to www.exploresaipan.com for an awesome website. The Internet is definitely an effective way to attract visitors from around the world, not to mention the relatively low cost and mass audience.