Saipan Tribune

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Friday, March 08, 2013

Flashback - Mar. 2004-Mar. 2007

Mar. 8, 2004

Governor tells 'stateless' children to register ASAP

Gov. Juan N. Babauta is calling on all “stateless” children to register and submit necessary documents for submission to the U.S. Congress. Babauta said his office will soon put out public notices in the newspapers, informing concerned individuals about the registration process. “I will make a publication [of this] to ask all those considered 'stateless' to step forward and be counted,” he said. Afterwards, he said, a meeting will be set to get an accurate listing of pertinent information from each concerned individual. Information would include their date of birth, parents' nationality, and the like.

PSS still has concerns on Education Initiative

The Public School System has “administrative and legal concerns” regarding the Babauta administration's Education Initiative, according to Board of Education chairman Roman C. Benavente. He, however, declined to give details pending further discussion with education commissioner Rita H. Inos. He said these are “new” concerns over the governor's education grants. The previous BOE leadership and the PSS had cited “gray areas” in the initiative, which includes the creation of a teacher board that administers and awards grants to teachers and schools, apart from PSS. The PSS had also cited the lack of guidelines in implementing the grant programs, such as the Performance Improvement Grants for teachers.

Mar. 8, 2006

'Immigration in dire need of improvements'

Micromanagement by the Attorney General's Office and the Division of Immigration's lack of control over related offices are seen as major factors contributing to the inefficient processing of alien permits. The Transition Committee, which assessed the division before Fitial administration took office, noted that Immigration was in dire need of improvement in such areas as work assignments, staffing, facilities, and resources. “The management style of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' is prevalent in all levels of management connected to the Division of Immigration. This style leads to insufficient staffing, backlogs, disruptive processing, and it negatively affects morale. Inconsistent application of employee policies and processing authorities and procedures negatively affect employee morale. Micromanagement by the AGO and its staff members has been the prevailing mode of operation,” read a portion of the transition report on Immigration.

'Labor does not favor retroactive renewal'

As a general rule, the Department of Labor does not favor allowing workers to engage in “retroactive” renewal, according to Labor hearing officer Jerry Cody. Cody, however, said that, in the case of Jin Joo Corp. and employee Beong Gwen Cho, the department has been lenient and agreed not to oppose the renewal for Cho, provided that a sanction is paid for the late filing. Cody said he agreed with the department's position and hold that the denial of Cho's work permit renewal should be reversed, provided that Jin Joo Corp. pays a monetary sanction for the late filing.

Mar. 8, 2007

PSS issues highlight Chamber meeting

Commissioner of Education David M. Borja talked about the state of education in the Commonwealth during yesterday's Saipan Chamber of Commerce general meeting at the Hotel Nikko SaipanUsing a slide presentation, Borja first provided members a statistical profile of the Public School System. He said the CNMI's Head Start Program and the elementary level both have 12 schools. Junior high schools in the CNMI, meanwhile, number four, while the count for senior high schools are five.

Group calls for redistribution of House seats

A group of local GOP members wants the seats in the House of Representatives reapportioned, saying the current distribution violates the “one man, one vote” rule. According to the Republican Party members from Precinct IV, the existing apportionment does not reflect the population size of the Saipan districts. They also argued that their precinct is under-represented while Precinct III is over-represented in the Lower House. Currently, Precincts I and III get six seats each, while Precincts II and IV get two seats each in the 18-member House. Rota and Tinian has one each.