FLASHBACKS – May 3, 2012

Teno seeks probe of ex-officials for misuse of funds[/B]

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has ordered the Office of the Attorney General to take immediate action on the recommendations of the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior seeking the prosecution of former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio and others for alleged abuse of public funds. The governor said he wrote to acting Atty. General Maya Kara Friday instructing her to review an audit report on the past administration’s handling of government money, bbut refused to give details of the IG audit report. “There are a lot of recommendations,” Tenorio said. “One of the recommendations is to refer some of these to the attorney general for investigation.”

Six companies currently leasing the Commonwealth Ports Authority’s Seaplane Ramps and adjacent properties have offered to spend for the additional dredging work in these areas in exchange for longer term leases as well as credit for future payments. In a letter sent to board chairman Roman S. Palacios, the six companies that are also operating boats for tourists requested the ports authority to consider dredging the existing channels because the shallow waters may damage the vessels especially during low tide. The companies include Pacific Subsea, BSEA Inc. Connie B. Charters, Island Fresh, Saipan Sunset Cruise and JM& Associates.

Reyes cautions against suing MTC[/B]

Senate floor leader Pete P. Reyes yesterday slammed an attempt to renew litigation against the Micronesian Telecommunications Corp. to force the CNMI’s lone domestic phone service provider to stop charging toll fees for inter-island calls. “The timing is very bad. It almost appears hostile against the company,” he told in an interview from Rota where he joined other local leaders in inaugurating the first ever cellular service in the island municipality. GTE Pacifica, which owns MTC, recently built its new cellular site on Rota to provide residents with the mobile phone service, which has been in operations on Saipan and Tinian for several years now.

The Division of Environmental Quality has informed the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association about the plan of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take one water sample from each private well on the island. DEQ Director Ignacio Cabrera said the sample will be analyzed by a DEQ-certified drinking water laboratory for volatile organic chemicals. Samples will not be analyzed for any of the other contaminants that must be monitored by the water systems, DEQ said. A team from U.S. EPA with the private contractors will carry out the tests on water wells with the assistance of DEQ staff. Private well owners can count the test to be conducted by EPA as one of the quarterly samples required by the regulation.

CDA, BoG sue ex-CPA chair[/B]

A local corporation and a Rota-based couple are facing mortgage foreclosure raps for alleged failure to fulfill their part in a debt agreement with the Bank of Guam and the Commonwealth Development Authority. Plaintiffs BoG and CDA are seeking to recover over $2 million from V’s Corporation, Rota residents Victor and Villia Hocog and several defendants yet to be identified on allegations that parties failed to cure their deficit long overdue since January 25, 2001. The lending entities, in a mortgage foreclosure complaint filed at the Superior Court, claimed that the defendants on June 10, 1999 executed and delivered a promissory note to BoG in the principal sum of $1.7 million.

The Senate is willing to earmark earnings from the aviation fuel tax to fund promotional activities of the Marianas Visitors Authority provided separate tourism offices will be established each for Tinian and Rota. Senators are anticipated to meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to discuss a possible compromise agreement, seen to pacify conflicting views of both houses of the Legislature on how to revive CNMI’s tourism industry. While both chambers are one in working out a way to alleviate the travel sector’s condition, they differ in opinion on how to effectively achieve their goals faster.