FLASHBACK – Apr. 27, 2012

Apr. 27, 1999

CPA revises FY 2000 budget

With revenues falling, the Commonwealth Ports Authority must keep a tight watch over its expenditures for the remaining six months of 1999 to meet its financial obligations while maintaining the smooth operations of its facilities. This developed as CPA management prepared a $1.5 million budget for the agency’s operations for fiscal year 2000. But board member Roman S. Tudela, chairman of the finance committee, wants the proposed budget revised to reflect the cost-cutting measures implemented by management and the approved increases in airport and seaport fees. Airport operating budget alone is $8.5 million or a 12 percent reduction from the current fiscal year’s appropriation. Seaport budget for FY 2000 is $1 million, which is an eight percent decrease from this year’s appropriation.

Reyes wants Fund to ease payment

The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday presses the NMI Retirement Fund to ease conditions on the settlement of some $21 million in unpaid contribution by the government, pointing to the mounting financial obligations of the Tenorio administration. “The most important is the liability of the government on the vendors, people that have provided goods and services,” Rep. Karl T. Reyes said in an interview. “If this is just something that the Retirement Fund will collect and reinvest and try to make more money again on top of what they already have, maybe it’s not as high priority as the vendors,” he added.

Apr. 27, 2000

New law bans use of scuba tank for fishing

Fishing on Rota reefs using scuba tank and other related devices is now prohibited in the island municipality and violators will face jail sentence of up to three months and/or a fine of not more than $500. Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday signed into law a local bill sponsored by Sen. Ricardo S. Atalig and passed by the Rota legislative delegation in what may be the first effort by the Commonwealth to outlaw such fishing practices. He approved the legislation to protect marine resources on the island, but prodded Rota lawmakers to amend it in order to clarify the scope of “other related devices” as well as the “coastal waters of the municipality.”

Handicap travelers: a potential market for CNMI

In a move to cash in on growing market of Japanese travelers with disabilities, the Pacific Development Inc. and the Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council asked the Marianas Visitors Authority to make the CNMI accessible to handicap travelers. The potential market worth of Japanese tourists with disabilities is estimated at 450 billion yen. The actual market is only one-fifth of that, or 90 billion yen. Travel spending per person is placed at 25, 210 yen. According to Yoichi Matsumura, PDI general manager, the number of travelers with disabilities has steadily increased due to available resources such as motorized and standard wheelchairs allowing convenient access.

Apr. 27, 2001

CJPA gets fresh federal funds

The Criminal Justice Planing Agency has received a total of $337,595 from the federal government, which it will channel to various programs aimed at alleviating the conditions of violence victims. The biggest portion of the funds released goes to STOP (Services Training Officers Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) with a total of $176,220 appropriated for its operation. STOP VAWA is a program created to foster more widespread apprehension, prosecution and adjudication of violent crimes against women through the criminal justice system.

SGMA inspects apparel factories

Local garment industry officials are currently doing the rounds of factories to check on the latter’s compliance with the conditions and standards set forth under a partnership agreement garment companies forged with US Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The voluntary inspections which started Monday are meant to give Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association member factories leeway and assistance under the so-called Excellence 2000 Program, to prepare them for the next scheduled visit of enforcers from the federal labor agency. “We’d like to go through our membership to make sure everything is okay when OSHA representatives visit them either in May or June,” SGMA Executive Director Richard A. Pierce said. “This is part of the normal activity we have pertaining to Excellence 2000.