FLASHBACK – April 23, 2012

Senate to hold own inquiry on CUC debt[/B]

The Senate will hold separate independent inquiry on the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s outstanding loan from the Commonwealth Development Authority to shed light on the issue of breach of fiduciary responsibilities. Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez said regardless of the invitation extended by House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication Chair Rosiky Camacho to attend the CUC-CDA inquiry today, the Senate will still conduct its own investigation to determine the culpability of the utility corporation. However, Mr. Villagomez said the Senate PUTC will attend the inquiry today.

In an effort to raise a healthy community through various health services, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio on Friday endorsed April 22 to 28 and April 22 to 29 as National Infant Immunization and Cancer Awareness Weeks. Mr. Tenorio said the CNMI is fortunate that active immunization program begun under the US Navy administration in the late 1950s. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act created the Vaccines for Children Program as Section 1928 of the Social Security Act on August 10, 1993. “The Department of Public Health in the CNMI offers this service at no charge to children. All school-aged children are required to provide a blue health certificate or proof of compliance with immunization requirements,” said Mr. Tenorio.

NMI to ride on coattails of US-Japan accord[/B]

To ensure that no momentum is lost, Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio said he intends to immediately follow up with the U.S. Department of Commerce on the recently signed agreement between the United States and Japan to ensure that the CNMI is not left out in the tourism expansion plans of the department. Tenorio, who left the Commonwealth yesterday afternoon for Washington D.C., said this will be one of his highest priorities once he arrives at the nation’s capital. “I will be meeting with Commerce Undersecretary Douglas B. Baker to follow up on the [Tourism Export Expansion] Initiative and try to promote continuing involvement of the Commonwealth,” said Tenorio.

A Constitutional oversight on the bill that seeks to improve the administration of Capital Improvement Program funds has prompted Gov. Juan N. Babauta to veto the measure Friday. Babauta urged the Legislature, though, to merely amend Senate Bill 13-13 so it could conform to Constitutional requirements on exceeding employment ceilings and he would soon pass it into law. Employment ceiling refers to the maximum number of personnel that could be hired by each branch, department, agency, authority and public corporation in the CNMI, as established in the annual appropriations act.

‘Open up Rota, Tinian for homestead program'[/B]

Conceding that Saipan may lack public lands enough to fully accommodate the Marianas Public Land Authority’s homestead program, Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano yesterday posed the possibility of opening up Rota and Tinian lands-even for Saipan recipients who are on the waiting list for their homestead share. The Tinian senator said he would not mind sharing his home island’s public lands with Saipan residents, noting that this direction has the potential of boosting the senatorial district’s economy. “Maybe Saipan will have limited resources of land but we can open up Tinian and Rota. People from Saipan [can] move to Tinian and that way, we’ll continue the homestead program. The increase of population would help a lot for the island,” the legislator told reporters yesterday.

The distribution of information cards on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to all incoming passengers has been delayed pending the completion of its translation to other languages, Department of Health Secretary James U. Hofschneider said. “We’re trying to get it all in different languages so that all incoming passengers can understand it,” Hofschneider said Monday. Authorities need to translate the SARS information card, which is in English, to three other languages: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.