Lawmakers see no major progress from last SOCA

Members of both legislative chambers described Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s State of the Commonwealth Address yesterday as an informative and sincere report about the true situation of the CNMI but they saw no major progress in the economic plans he had presented in last year’s SOCA.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial focused his one-hour speech on the pros and cons of issues and policies that continue to affect government operations and cripple the battered CNMI economy—from the budget deficit and the utilities corporation, to the federalization of local labor and immigration and the Retirement Fund’s ongoing lawsuit.

“Overall, the governor’s report was good. There was no side-tracking on issues that are not related to the government operation and the CNMI economy. Although the Executive Branch and the Legislature do not always agree on one issue, it was good to hear him recognize the Legislature for some of the progress he noted in the government’s administration,” Senate President Pete Reyes said, adding the report was also “enlightening and informative.”

Rep. Diego Benavente, chairman of the House Committee on Federal Relations, described the presentation as “very minimal” but really tackled the main issues that Commonwealth people want to hear about.

“For me, the presentation was good. He presented the current challenges…and even though it was very minimal, these are the things our people would like to hear on,” he told Saipan Tribune.

House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ray Yumul said he heard what he had expected of the governor’s report. “It’s pretty much what I expected—issues about the real and current challenges and the true situation of our economy,” he said.

House minority leader Rep. Oscar Babauta described the governor’s remarks as “frank, sincere, and was spoken from the heart.”

Despite the criticisms that Fitial faced due to many unpopular decisions, Babauta believes the governor made significant progress on the budget deficit and the power utilities.

Babauta, along with the Senate President, Yumul and Benavente, said that despite the “gloomy” forecast for the CNMI economy as a result of many issues, the Fitial administration had made significant strides in resolving the massive outages that were experienced last year.

“They made progress on our CUC compared to what we experienced in the previous years,” the lawmakers admitted.

‘Lack of plan to deal present challenges’

Rep. Tina Sablan believes there were some missing parts in the governor’s report to the people.

“I expected the governor to give us a gloomy forecast of the future, and to blame the Legislature and the federal government for the current challenges we face. I also expected that we would not hear an honest assessment of the shortcomings of this administration, or be presented with a compelling and visionary plan of action. The governor’s address lived up to my expectations,” she said.

Sablan said the address was for the most part the same as last year’s with a few updates on CUC, a more expansive list of justifications for the government’s lawsuit against the federal government, a summary of federal stimulus funds received, and a nod to the people of Rota and Tinian who can expect more homesteads and better corrections facilities.

“The major challenges haven’t changed, whether it’s CUC, the healthcare system, the Retirement Fund, the budget, the tourism industry, how to move capital improvement projects forward, or how to make the transition to federal immigration law and to a just, rational, and sustainable economy. And sadly, what also hasn’t changed is that there does not seem to be a plan to deal with those challenges,” she added.

Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, for his part, believes that the governor—since deliveringd his report last year—made no significant progress on the many issues facing the Commonwealth.

“Nothing,” he told reporters when asked about the major accomplishment he thinks were achieved by the governor since last year’s SOCA.

Like Sablan, Palacios admitted that he had expected the governor to again blame the Legislature.

He vehemently disagreed with the governor’s argument that federalization was mainly to blame for the downgrading of the CNMI’s rating by credit rating agency Moody’s, saying the failure to pass a government budget and federalization were among the factors cited in the decision.

“Let’s be honest with the issues…sit down and work on the possible solutions,” he said, adding this was also why many people are not buying the idea of “austerity holidays” as a way to cut expenditure costs in government.

“Austerity measure is not necessary,” he said, adding that the administration can suspend the budget of unnecessary government activities to cover for the austerity proposal.

‘Not CUC, but Eloy’

If many lawmakers rated CUC’s progress as the administration’s major accomplishment in this year’s SOCA, a lawmaker from Tinian is not buying the idea.

“It’s Eloy [Inos],” Sen. Jude Hofschneider told Saipan Tribune when asked what he thinks is the major achievements of the government since last year.

“He [Fitial] appointed a very respectable guy…a man who can assist him all the way,” he said.

Hofschneider described the governor’s report as “very comprehensive.”

“At least he’s very much aware of the situation, primarily of the economy,” he said.

Hofschneider is not convinced that CUC has already achieved “true progress,” saying that as long as the Aggreko engines are here and alternative renewable energy for the CNMI remains nonexistent, he can’t agree with the administration’s report on CUC.

Sen. Maria Frica Pangelinan also expressed dissatisfaction with the governor’s report.

“I am surprised that the governor even talked about financial reports in 2006 and 2007 when we’re already in 2009,” she told Saipan Tribun.

She also disagreed with the many issues and points Fitial raised about federalization, Moody’s decision to downgrade the CNMI’s debt rating, and the Retirement Fund.

She said the governor raised the same issues he presented in last year’s report.