Flashback – March 2, 2012

Mar. 2,2001

$100K to fund tourism promotions in Taiwan

The CNMI government is bent at releasing $100,000 to finance additional promotional activities that would establish Saipan as a prime tour destination among Taiwanese travelers. Ports Authority Executive Director Carlos H. Salas disclosed Mandarin Air had specifically asked for government support in increased promotion of the CNMI in Taiwan to justify direct flights between Saipan and Taipei. Mr. Salas said Mandarin Air executives made this request known to the CNMI government during meeting last month with Northern Marianas officials headed by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio.

Senators claim LaMotte violate hiring policies

Senators yesterday castigated former Public Auditor Leo LaMotte’s renewal of non-expiring contracts of OPA employees and decried them as a possible circumvention of the law. The issue stems from Mr. LaMotte’s signing of contract extension to OPA employees shortly before he stepped down in December 2000. Some contracts at the time, from what current Public Auditor Michael Sablan said, were not even nine months old. Lawmakers found the contract renewals of the former Public Auditor disturbing and irregular.

Mar. 2, 2005

NMI overture met with ’wait-and-see’ stance

None of the four airlines that Gov. Juan N. Babauta and his delegation visited in Japan last week made a commitment to provide more seat capacity to Saipan, the Marianas Visitors Authority reported. MVA managing director Vicky I. Benavente said, however, that the airlines, as well as the travel companies that the delegation met with, were very receptive to the ideas presented by the CNMI group during the discussions. “We conveyed two messages for the tourism industry partners that we visited: ’Thank you for your support and please increase seat capacity to Saipan,’” said Benavente. “None of them made any commitment. Their attitude was more like ’we’ll see’ and I can totally understand them, considering the high fuel cost.”

CNMI to get $15K for drug overcharges

Attorney general Pamela Brown yesterday said that the CNMI government would receive some $15,000 in reimbursement for Medicaid spending over an anti-anxiety drug. Several states earlier filed a lawsuit against New York City-based Bristol-Myers Squibb, which manufactures the drug BuSpar, for allegedly violating federal antitrust laws. The suit, however, resulted in a settlement agreement. “Bristol-Myers Squibb fended off competition by filing new patent on BuSpar with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Had the scheme gone unchallenged, it would have prevented the generic drug from entering the market for at least another 30 months,” Brown said.

Mar. 2,2006

$1.9M anti-crime grants awarded

The Youth Advisory Council and the Criminal Justice Planning Agency Supervisory Council have awarded a total of $1.9 million to new and ongoing projects related to prevention of crime, domestic violence, and substance abuse. CJPA executive director Doris Chong said, in a memorandum to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, that the grants from the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs cover 31 different projects. The two biggest projects to be funded by the grants are the development of a criminal justice information system, amounting to $450,000, and the purchase of 10 new police patrol vehicles, amounting to $301,006. According to Chong, the information system program will initially include the Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, and the courts. Future funding will be provided to include the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division, the Office of the Public Defender, Rota, and Tinian.

Judiciary mulling hikes in fees, fines

The CNMI Judiciary is mulling a possible increase in legal fees and fines to raise more revenues for the courts. The Supreme Court and the Superior Court have come up with a joint list of measures it planned to implement to reduce court expenditures and increase court revenues. Acting Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro and Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja said in a joint letter to special assistant for management Antonio Muna that the courts were looking at increasing fees and fines to help mitigate the government’s current budget shortfall. The fee increase is also seen as a possible means for the courts to meet the $118,245 monthly payment to the Retirement Fund without causing a burden to the administration. The courts still owe the Fund approximately $10 million for the construction of the courthouse.