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protest infront of the governor's office

protest infront of the governor's office

THE GOVERNOR RAN AWAY FR THE BACK DOOR.

THE GOVERNOR RAN AWAY FR THE BACK DOOR.

HEADLINE!

STRIBUNE

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Group holds rally, dares Fitial to talk to them
By Agnes E. DonatoReporter


The community group Taotao Tano held a rally outside the administration building yesterday to demand the resignation of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and all of his appointees.About 15 Taotao Tano members, their children in tow, stood for four hours in front of the Governor's Office, shouting calls for the governor to step down, or at least to come out and speak to them. Fitial and his police escorts reportedly left the building through the back door without addressing the small crowd.“It's very disappointing he had to get four police officers to escort him. We are not a radical group; we even came with kids. We just wanted to talk to him about the CUC [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] contracts,” said Taotao Tano leader Gregorio Cruz.Taotao Tano has questioned CUC's $5.1 million contract with the Guam-based DCM Group for the repair of Saipan's Power Plant I, and the $885,000 contract with the Commonwealth Industrial Supply Co. Inc. for the repair of Power Plant II. Both companies have failed to complete their work on schedule. The continuing repair at the power plants has prompted CUC to hire the U.K.-based Aggreko International to provide temporary power to Saipan at a cost of $6 million.“Where is the rehabilitation that was supposed to take place? What is the administration going to do with those contracts? Are we going to continue spending money to repair something that should have fixed already?” Cruz asked.“If these officials can't do their job, they don't belong in office. They should step down,” he added.The Saipan Tribune tried to get comments from CUC executive director Tony Muna, but he has not responded at press time. Muna has called the DCM contract “a mistake.” He has also reported that CISCO's work, which was supposed to have been completed in 2006, has been put on hold.It is not clear what CUC's next step will be on DCM or CISCO.Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. Reyes said he knew little about the March 2006 contract with CISCO, which had been given 120 days to fix Power Plant II. But he played down the contractors' faults.“Maybe the engines are in a worse state than they expected. Those engines had been neglected for many years. Unfortunately, the mistakes of the past are coming back to haunt us. We're just trying to deal with the bad circumstances,” he said.Reyes also called Taotao Tano's rally “a publicity stunt.”“They're exercising their right to free speech. That's all right as long as they do it peacefully and they are not disturbing the peace,” he said.

MVARIETY

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Reyes: Governor’s office not affected by protest Tuesday, 08 July 2008 00:00 By Junhan B. Todeno - Variety News Staff

THE leader of Taotao Tano does not “represent the indigenous people” and his protest action that demanded the resignation of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is “unreasonable,” Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said yesterday. A Taotao Tano member holds a placard critical of the administration during their rally outside the governor’s office yesterday. Photo by Mark PeñarandaThe Office of the Governor is “not affected” by the rally spearheaded by Greg Cruz. “We will continue to work,” Reyes said, adding that they have no time to have a dialogue with Cruz. “We talked with him before and we gave him an opportunity to be heard,” Reyes said. “But he has become critical and unreasonable,” he added, when the Fitial administration did not give him a government job. Cruz, in a separate interview, said Reyes should stop acting “as if he is the governor — he only wants a show on island.” Reyes should prove that Taotao Tano does not represent the indigenous people of the CNMI, Cruz said. Their call for Fitial’s resignation is reasonable, he added, and Taotao Tano will continue its protest “until something happens.” Cruz and his group gathered outside the governor’s office on Capital Hill at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. The rally was supposed to start at 10 a.m. Cruz was with eight children, 12 teenagers and seven other adults. The group displayed their banner which stated: “We are all suffering. Fuel is a global issue but ismanagement, incompetence, sweetheart deals, under the table deals is not. If you guys cannot fix CUC step down.” They chanted protest slogans from time to time. The Reyes sisters — Tacia, 16, Estela, 19, and Angie, 18 — said their demand was reasonable “because we have suffered a lot.” Christopher Ayuyu, 33, who has been with Taotao Tano for a year now, said people are paying CUC’s debt and the price of fuel is more than the minimum wage. Aaron Arthur, 15, said the governor is not addressing the pressing problems of the islands. Another local group, the CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights does not support Taotao Tano’s cause. Former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, spokesman and adviser of the CNMI Descents, said they are only concerned about issues affecting the rights of the indigenous people. “We are not involved in one way or another with the demand for Fitial’s resignation,” Rasa told Variety, adding that their group now has 2,300 members. Reyes said Cruz enjoyed the support of the local people, but most of them have formed their own groups. “He is inconsistent,” Reyes said. “He might be supporting you in one day and next week attacking you — completely npredictable.” Taotao Tano’s demand for a complete revamp of the cabinet members is also unreasonable because some of those officials are performing well and have nothing to do with Cruz’s problems, Reyes said. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Clyde Norita and Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Dr. Ignacio Dela Cruz are doing well, Reyes said. CUC Executive Director Antonio Muna, he added, is trying to address a difficult situation. Reyes believes that Cruz is being fed information by some politicians or groups that want to express their sentiments but don’t want to be identified. “He is not a very knowledgeable person but sometime when you look at his press releases it sound like it came from somebody who is knowledgeable,” Reyes said. “I have seen his writing and he often has grammatical errors. He’s not a good writer.” Cruz said politicians do not support their group because “they are afraid of us.” He again challenged Reyes to prove that he applied for a job with the Fitial administration.

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OUR CNMI LEADERS activities and accomplishments

Introductory, pending and passage of house bills

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Letter to the editor: About the Kumho / CRISOSTOMO

Friday November 30, 2007

I STRONGLY believe that before the Kumho Asiana lease takes place that our people be given an opportunity to be heard and have an understanding of any conditions in place that may be to their detriment or benefit.
Today, we ask ourselves as leaders, whether we have fulfilled the sentiments of over 5,000 or more residents seeking homestead lots as we venture into this public lease for Kumho Asiana or any other corporation for that matter. There are abundance of private properties today available for lease that have not been tabled which should be the priority of these lessees prior to availing with the public lands. Now, before us is Kumho Asiana proposal to lease Laolao Golf Course as it had already acquired the remaining assignment of the leasehold by UMDA and is now attempting to get a new 40 year lease term. However, the validity of this assignment of lease is to my opinion based on the law under Article XI Section 5(B)which states “the corporation may not transfer a leasehold interest in public lands for 25 years including renewal rights.”
Therefore, the term of this lease agreement has not expired and has not been terminated, so isn’t it illegal to transact a new lease when the lease has not been completed?
Unfortunately, the new 40-year lease term that is being sought by Kumho Asiana is questionable to me at this time because the lease’s original terms and conditions have yet to be fulfill. How then can I, as a senator for Saipan and Northern Islands, approve an undertaking of this lease agreement when the initial lease agreement was not accomplished.
I have nothing against Kumho Asiana but the public needs to be informed and a public hearing has to take place so that the community can be heard. A lot of empty promises have happened in the past and to approve something of this magnitude will be a disservice to our people. To top it off, with all due respect to Kumho Asiana I strongly believe that the proposed lease amount at $10,000 per month or $333 per day is an unreasonable lease amount to say the least.
Just imagine on average there are about 50 players per day at the golf resort at $140 per player which roughly generates $7,000 per day or $2.5 million per year. Now I ask Kumho is the commonwealth really getting a “fair” deal for such a transaction at $120,000 per year?
This projection doesn’t even take into account membership fee and others.
My dear people of the commonwealth, this $120,000 per year lease that is being proposed by Kumho Asiana is unrealistic. I do not believe that the CNMI government is getting a good return for its asset and I don’t think that this amount of revenue that will be generated will impact the CNMI’s financial posture. This is peanuts!
Yes, we are in a financial problems at this time, but we must be mindful that we have fiduciary responsibility to make sure that we do get the best return for our islands and not sell it out — out of desperation. For me personally, I feel this lease is an injustice to the people of the commonwealth particularly our children seeking homestead lots.
Therefore, all homestead applicants who are out there and have yet to receive their lots I urge them to come to the legislative hall and express themselves. We may be desperate but not this desperate! We should wait for the right time because I believe that there will be greater opportunities forthcoming and as the governor has stated, “it’s only a matter of time for better times.”
SEN. LUIS P. CRISOSTIMO
15th CNMI Legislature
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New law tightens definition of "loitering"

120107 st- Local Saturday, December 01, 2007 By Agnes E. DonatoReporter


A GOOD LAW!!

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has approved a bill strengthening the law against streetside solicitation of customers in the Commonwealth.The newly enacted law provides a clearer definition of acts of loitering.Under the legislation, attempting more than one time to lure a customer into a commercial transaction, whether legal or illegal, through shouting, calling, or beckoning, is prohibited.Also banned is grabbing or touching of potential customers for commercial gain.A person convicted of loitering may be fined up to $1,000 or sentenced to up to 30 days in prison.Public Law 15-113 was enacted in a bid to clarify two previous statutes against loitering. The Legislature said that P.L. 14-50 and P.L. 14-93 had been ineffective in curbing the aggressive street-side solicitation of tourists and other people in the CNMI.The governor noted the previous laws required that there be “repeated” attempts or acts of loitering, but failed to define “repeated.”“This measure clarifies the language, which in turn will assist law enforcement officers when determining if a person is loitering or attempting to loiter for commercial gain,” Fitial said.