Flashback June 3, 1999-2003

[B]June 03, 1999[/B] [B]DOLI slams INS[/B]

Labor and Immigration Secretary Mark Zachares yesterday assailed the federal government for its hypocrisy in using the CNMI immigration laws when it transferred the illegal Chinese immigrants from Guam to Tinian to make sure that they cannot seek political asylum. The US Immigration and Naturalization Service had claimed that overcrowding in the Hagatna Department of Corrections had forced them to divert to Tinian boatloads of Chinese illegals believed to be victims of human smuggling. Many of these illegals pay as much as $5,000 to be able to enter the neighboring island.

[B]Teno reports to the Commonwealth[/B]

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio delivers today his State of the Commonwealth address that will sum up the accomplishment of his administration and spell out future actions he will undertake to deal with the continuing economic decline and worsening ties with the United States. However, Tenorio, who is serving almost halfway of his four-year term, says he sees tougher times ahead because of the worsening economic condition in the Northern Marianas.

[B]Consortium withdraws protest on 80MW power plant[/B]

A multinational consortium opposing initial choice of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation on the contractor of its 80-megawatt power plant on Saipan has withdrawn its protests, according to a CUC statement. The consortium of Alsons, Tomen, Singapore Power and Tan Holdings Corp. retracted all its six protests filed with CUC as well as all the appeals it made to the Office of Public Auditor regarding the controversial power project.

[B]June 03, 2002

Making NMI more visitor- and investor-friendly[/B]

With the goal of hammering out an entry policy that is visitor-friendly and a labor policy that is investor-friendly, CNMI officials sat down Saturday with consular officials from four countries to discuss ways of making the Commonwealth more attractive as a tourist site and investment destination.

[B]Refund checks out[/B]

Good news for those expecting tax refunds for tax year 2001: The first batch of tax refund checks goes into the mail today. As for the tax rebates, Finance Secretary Frank B. Villanueva said the Department of Finance still has until October to release them, which means that the tax refunds would be processed first before the rebates.

[B]CPA to collect $2.25 from ferry passengers per trip[/B]

The Commonwealth Ports Authority will start collecting the $2.25 terminal fee from each passenger beginning 12 midnight of June 6, 2002, to unburden Tinian Shipping and Transportation, Inc. CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas said the move was prompted by the shipping company’s outstanding debts arising from its $20,000 monthly obligation to the ports authority as payment for passenger fee.

[B]June 03, 2003

House to Senate: Changes reflect greediness[/B]

In what appeared to be an edgy ping-pong match, the House of Representatives yesterday tossed the Commonwealth prison project financing bill back to the Senate’s court, only partially agreeing to the upper house’s amendments to the legislative measure that has been in limbo for months. In approving another modified version of House Bill 13-287, the House rejected the Senate’s bid to increase the public debt for the prison completion from $15 million to $19 million, but agreed to the $2 million appropriation for the Rota and Tinian dialysis centers.

[B]Senate defends prison bill amendments[/B]

The Senate leadership defended the upper house’s decision to insist on securing Rota and Tinian’s share in the Commonwealth prison project financing bill-House Bill 13-287-denying the action was an act of “greed.” “This is not about greediness. It’s about trying to get more mileage on our funding and accommodating the needs of all senatorial districts. The House can say what they want. That’s why the Legislature was set up this way,” Senate President Paul A. Manglona said yesterday.

[B]CSC mulls changes to by-laws, regs[/B]

The Civil Service Commission will be creating a special committee within the commission to review and submit changes to the by-laws and regulations governing the body, in a move intended to correct some deficiencies and lay down specific ground rules for the body. The creation of the committee was supposed to take place in a scheduled meeting Wednesday last week but this was postponed to this coming Wednesday, June 4, at 9am.