FLASHBACK January 6, 1999-2003

Gloom hangs over CNMI[/B]

As Japan’s economy remains in the dump, one of the biggest tour operators on Saipan is projecting a 10 percent slide in the number of Japanese visitors handled by the company. Koki Narita, president of Tasi Tours, said it is expecting to bring in some 85,000 to 90,000 Japanese travelers this year, the same number of tourists it handled in 1996. Tasi Tours is an affiliate of Pacific Micronesia Tours and Japan Travel Bureau, the largest wholesaler in Japan. “I’m afraid I’m not too optimistic that we will see some recovery this year. We have not reached the bottom yet,” Narita said.

Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, head of the CNMI 902 panel, yesterday said talks with the United States will push through this month amid growing apprehension that consultations might face another delay because of wide gap in the agenda. According to Sablan, discussions will proceed on January 18 on Saipan as proposed by President Bill Clinton’s special representative, Edward B. Cohen. Some members of the panel, however, said they are worried that Cohen’s proposal to touch transition to federalization of local immigration and minimum wage would push back talks since it is not within the parameters of discussion envisioned by the commonwealth.

FBI probes SBDC[/B]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun its probe on former director of the Small Business Development Center administered by the Northern Marianas College for possible federal program fraud and other violations of U.S. laws. The center has drawn controversy in recent weeks after the U.S. Small Business Administration terminated its contract with NMC and transferred the program to the Commonwealth Development Authority—a move which college officials and some lawmakers described as personal vendetta by its ex-director, Jack Peters. A letter from the U.S. Office of Inspector General indicated that the FBI office on Guam has been tasked to investigate Mr. Peters, who now heads the Pacific Islands SBDC Network based in the University of Guam.

The federal court yesterday handed down its sentence to the last of three prominent individuals implicated in a bribery case over federally-funded projects on Tinian, ending more than two years of efforts by the U.S. government to prosecute the suspects. Tito Sablan, who has shares at family-owned Sablan Enterprises, received nearly identical sentence given to his uncle, Jesus Sablan, general manager of Sablan Construction Ltd., Inc., on Tuesday in connection with the case investigated by FBI. Tagged by Judge Alex Munson as the “bagman,” Tito Sablan evaded jail sentence of up to 18 months and instead would spend the next two years under probation, beginning immediately and subject to several conditions.

MPLA softens toward CPA
[/B] The Marianas Public Lands Authority may finally agree to issue land titles to the Commonwealth Ports Authority but subject to strict conditions. MPLA board chairperson Ana Demapan-Castro said the board “is open to such possibility” but only under “strict conditions.” When asked whether the board may reconsider its earlier decision on awarding use rights only to CPA, Demapan-Castro said: “It may change, depending on the agreement conditions.” She said, though, that the any changes would have to be made by the whole board. Personally, she said she might allow CPA to get titles only if it agrees to remit at least 20 percent of its collections to MPLA. “That would be fair. It’s give and take. I won’t just give [the titles] without conditions,” she said.

A private developer is asking for a government permit to do research and explore the possibility of exporting the volcanic ashes of Pagan in the Northern Islands. This, following findings that Pagan’s fine ash, commonly known as pozzolan, is of high natural quality and could be found in only three locations in the world—Italy (Mt. Vesuvius), Greece (Santorini volcano), and Northern Islands. The other two have lately been dormant, leaving Pagan as the only active volcano that produces top quality pozzolan. Jess Palacios, president of Azmar International, said his company has applied for the research permit with the Marianas Public Lands Authority.