Lawmakers OK $1M for land comp, museum, NMD Corp.

After a lengthy debate, Saipan lawmakers passed Tuesday a bill appropriating a total of $1 million in Managaha landing fees—$800,000 of which is for land compensation, $100,000 for the NMI Museum of History and Culture, and $100,000 for a non-profit corporation claiming to represent people of Northern Marianas descent by opposing a court ruling allowing non-NMDs to vote on Article 12 initiatives, opposing the CW program extension, opposing granting of improved status to long-term legal foreign workers in the CNMI, and opposing U.S. military use of Pagan, among other things.

House Local Bill 18-45, Draft 1 now goes to Gov. Eloy S. Inos.

But as of yesterday, there’s no telling whether the governor will line-item veto the public funds given to private group NMD Corp., similar to what he did with similar bills in the past.

House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), along with eight other members of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, tried yesterday to give the $100,000 previously proposed for the NMD Corp. to the Saipan Mayor’s Office for its public service programs and services specifically the purchase of heavy equipment.

But 11 members voted down Deleon Guerrero’s proposed floor amendment at 12:59pm.

They wanted the NMD Corp. to have the $100,000 so that the private corporation can, among other things, rent office space, hire people, and carry out the corporation’s objectives that include awareness of laws and other public policies affecting NMDs.

As offered previously by Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan), the $100,000 for the NMD Corp. was taken from the total $900,000 that are supposed to go toward compensating landowners for their lands that the government took for public roads, among other things.

Rep. Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan) reiterated his strong opposition to giving funds to a private corporation at a time when the government is juggling money for critical services such as public health and public safety.

House Vice Speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan), for his part, questioned the wisdom of funding a non-profit corporation so it can rent an office, hire personnel, and help register NMDs. He said the Commonwealth Election Commission is already tasked to register NMDs.

“What do we do if another group also proposes (to be funded) and also calls themselves NMDs? Is this body also ready and willing to foot the bill of the other group?” Dela Cruz said. He said the NMD Corp. should instead go to the Marianas Public Land Trust for financial help.

Deleon Guerrero said the NMD Corp. tends to also duplicate the functions of the constitutionally-created Carolinian Affairs Office and the Office of Indigenous Affairs, which are annually funded.

“I believe this is misguided effort on our part…If we want to support NMDs, we should support these two offices. We don’t need to be redundant,” the House speaker said.

He then proposed a floor amendment to give the $100,000 instead to the Saipan Mayor’s Office, officials of which were present at the session, including Mayor Marian Tudela.

But Deleon Guerrero’s floor amendment got only nine “yes” votes as opposed to 11 “no” votes. Of the 21-member SNILD, only Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero (Cov-Saipan) was absent.

The nine “yes” votes to support a $100,000 funding for the Saipan Mayor’s Office were Rep. Roman Benavente (Ind-Saipan), Vice Speaker Dela Cruz, Speaker Deleon Guerrero, Sen. Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Mario Taitano (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Ralph Yumul (Ind-Saipan), and Sen. Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan).

The 11 votes to give $100,000 to the NMD Corp. came from Rep. George Camacho (R-Saipan), House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan), Ogumoro, Rep. John Paul Sablan (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Richard Seman (R-Saipan), Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan), Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Tony Agulto (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Tony Benavente (Ind-Saipan), and Rep. Larry Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan).

When it came to the main motion, 14 members voted “yes” to the amended bill appropriating $1 million for land compensation, the museum and the NMD Corp., while six voted “no.”

The House speaker himself voted “yes with serious reservation” on the amended bill that Rep. Tony Benavente authored, along with four other members.

Nearly $3M
The Saipan delegation also passed chairman Tebuteb’s House Local Bill 18-51, Draft 1, appropriating more than $2.7 million in bond funds and associated interest as the governor earlier asked the delegation to consider for use on eight capital improvement projects on Saipan such as for road paving, buying school buses, hospital bed replacements, and equipment purchases.

Speaker Deleon Guerrero offered a written floor amendment that the delegation adopted. The amended bill passed by a vote of 20-0 at 12:03pm.

Of the total appropriated amount of over $2.7 million, the amended bill gives $250,000 for the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for new hospital beds; $250,000 for the Public School System’s purchase of two new 66-passenger school buses; $400,000 for Precinct I’s various CIPs; $380,000 for Precinct II’s various CIPs; $450,000 for Precinct III’s construction of a small amphitheater and related facilities at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan; $273,969 for Precinct IV’s various CIPs; $600,000 for various Precinct V CIPs including for Kagman road paving; $100,000 for the Saipan mayor’s office; and $50,000 for Saipan Souther High School’s baseball field.

The delegation also passed Rep. Yumul’s HLB 18-49, Draft 1 by a vote of 19-1 at 11:58am. The bill appropriates up to $10,000 in Saipan’s developer’s infrastructure tax for Saipan programs and projects.