House committee chairmanships all set

House Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan), center presides over their organizational session last Monday at the House chamber inside the Hon. Jesus P. Mafnas Memorial Building on Capital Hill. (KEVIN CALIBO)

The 21st House of Representatives continues to organize itself with House Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan) formally appointing members of the local Republican Party as chairs of the 10 committees that will oversee all legislation that could directly have an impact to the people of the CNMI.

The appointment was just to formalize things after the Republican majority already chose their leaders in a caucus last month where Attao was chosen as the new speaker, and Rep. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan) as vice speaker. Rep. John Paul P. Sablan (R-Saipan) was elected as House floor leader.

The local GOP holds 12 of the 20 seats in the House. They originally grabbed 13 after the general elections in November until the untimely passing of Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, who died last Jan. 6 in Tinian.

Two-term representative Ivan A. Blanco (R-Saipan) will move from being the Judiciary and Governmental Operations chair to head the powerful Ways and Means, the committee that is tasked to take on the CNMI government’s fiscal year budget and other bills on funding and other appropriations.

Blanco’s JGO post went to freshman lawmaker Joel C. Camacho (R-Saipan), a former senior legislative assistant with the Legislative Bureau, of Precinct 4, while Rep. Antonio SN Borja (R-Tinian) will chair the Natural Resources Committee.

Rep. Jose I. Itibus (R-Saipan) will remain the Health Committee chair with the Welfare portfolio, previously held by former representative Francisco C. Aguon in the 20th House and was re-named Human Services. Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero (R-Saipan) retains his post as Commerce and Tourism Committee chair.

Former Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chair Rep. Luis John DLG Castro (R-Saipan), another neophyte House member, will head the Federal and Foreign Affairs Committee, while vice speaker Deleon Guerrero is the interim chair of the Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications.

The late representative Francisco S. Dela Cruz previously chaired PUC in the 20th Legislature with Transportation being created as a separate committee that was then headed by former representative Donald C. Barcinas.

Former CNMI State Board of Education chair Roman C. Benavente (R-Saipan) returns to chair the Education committee after losing his reelection bid for a seat in the 20th Legislature. He previously served in the 18th and 19th House as a member of the independent bloc.

Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (R-Saipan) will take the reins of the Gaming Committee that monitors the casino and laws relating to the new industry, while Rep. Janet U. Maratita (R-Saipan) was given the new Cannabis Committee to look into legislation pertaining to the new industry created by Public Law 20-66.

Rep. Edwin K. Propst leads the independent bloc as the minority leader. Representatives Joseph A. Flores (Precinct 1), Tina Sablan (Precinct 2), Edmund S. Villagomez (Precinct 3), Sheila J. Babauta (Precinct 4), Richard T. Lizama (Precinct 5), and Donald M. Manglona (Precinct 7) are the other members of the minority bloc.