FLASHBACK-Mar. 23, 2012

DLNR, MRC urged to amend marina deal[/B]

The Department of Lands and Natural Resources should either amend its leasing agreement with Marine Revitalization Corporation in the operation of the Outer Cove Marina or find another company to manage it. These were the recommendations made by the Office of Public Auditor on the DLNR-MRC agreement for operating the Outer Cove Marina covering the period May 1993 to October 1998. The audit revealed that both parties failed to comply with most of the terms of their lease agreement. For instance, the report cited, the department failed to prevent boats from being moored at the Smiling Cove Marina.

Major signatory airlines flying the Saipan route made an estimated $200,000 savings after the Commonwealth Ports Authority refunded almost 50 percent of the departure facility charge collected from them. CPA Executive Director Carlos H. Salas said CPA ordered a 50 percent off on departure facility charge since November last year and the discounted rate is part of the Airline Incentive Program. Signatory airlines usually pay the departure facility charges in advance and CPA has to credit it back to airline companies after CPA decided to extend the program’s implementation, said Mr. Salas.

PIDB optimistic on more equity contributions[/B]

Managers and shareholders of the Pacific Islands Development Bank held back-to-back meetings here yesterday, to review pending loan applications and initiate the process of securing additional equity from three entities that have yet to complete the $1-million capital share required of each PIDB member. PIDB President Aren Palik disclosed that he and Board of Governors Chairman, CNMI Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, are working on a formal process to seek additional funding from Kosrae, Chuuk and Guam. “I cannot speak with any certainty whether or not we’re going to receive any amount. But I can assure you that we will try our best and move the process forward,” Palik told reporters yesterday, prior to the start of the annual PIDB Board of Governors meeting at the Commonwealth Development Authority office.

Labor Secretary Joaquin A. Tenorio has affirmed an amended administrative order awarding some $1,300 to a worker on Tinian, on top of a transfer relief as embodied in the original order. In his decision issued March 17, 2003, Tenorio said the amended order signed by hearing officer Vicente Seman on October 8, 2002, which granted petitioner Victoria Sergueeva $1,336, was proper. This even as Tenorio, in his appeal order, noted that in issuing the original order, “the hearing officer had inadvertently failed to address the prayer made by the Director of Labor to award contract damages [lost wages] to Sergueeva.”

Govt to ensure equity in nursing pay[/B]

The government will ensure that local nurses working at the Commonwealth Health Center get an equitable pay, according to Gov. Juan N. Babauta. “We’re going to bring equity in their salary. We’ve met with them and our nurses just want equity and I support them,” he said. He said he will ask the Civil Service Commission, the Legislature, as well as other key agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management, and the Attorney General’s Office, to be present in the next round of talks with the local nurses.

A ranking lawmaker is strongly opposed to the proposed implementation of the Passenger Facility Charge that the Commonwealth Ports Authority is mulling to remedy its financial standing. In a letter addressed to CPA executive director Carlos H. Salas, House vice speaker and Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication chair Timothy Villagomez stressed that implementing an additional charge to passengers may affect the slow rebound of the tourism industry. “I request the CPA to reconsider its proposed passenger facility charge scheduled to take effect. We urge CPA to consider fee revenue only as the course of last resort after exploring all possible measures, including cost-cutting solutions, to improve CPA’s financial ability to make debt service payments,” said Villagomez in the letter dated March 18, 2004.