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Torres to highlight NMI’s gains
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres will deliver his State of the Commonwealth Address on March 31, and he intends to enumerate the achievements and gains of his administration as well as their vision for the CNMI’s future generations.
The 20th CNMI Legislature will hold its first joint session since the late governor Eloy S. Inos’ SoCA on June 30, 2014, more than a year since assuming the top post in the CNMI.
The Legislature just transmitted to Torres Senate Joint Legislature 20-2 to call for a joint session to receive his SoCA.
Torres’ SoCA will be held on March 31 at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe at 10am.
Torres would also use the event to submit the government’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 to the Legislature, one day ahead of the April 1 deadline.
Torres was Inos’ lieutenant governor and became governor after the latter’s untimely death in December 2015.
Inos became CNMI governor after then-governor Benigno R. Fitial resigned after being impeached. The Casino License Agreement between the CNMI government and Imperial Pacific International was signed during Inos’ term as governor in 2014.
IPI is in the process of finishing its construction of a multi-million dollar hotel casino resort in Garapan with the money generated from the annual license fees and other taxes collected.
The new gaming industry pumped in the needed funds to the CNMI’s coffers, allowing the government to fund its departments and other programs as well as settling some of its financial obligations with the Retirement Fund, bonuses for retirees and their beneficiaries, salary adjustment and increases for law enforcement officers and all government employees, and longstanding obligations of the central government, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., and CNMI Public School System to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
“As we look ahead to the prospects of the year, we have an opportunity to further advance the goals and interests of the Commonwealth. We all share in the spirit of presenting solutions that address the critical issues affecting our people,” Torres said in an earlier statement.
