Pelly’s problem

After some have suggested that Marina Cove “owner” Anthony Pellegrino may have been greedy when he turned away Managaha-bound tourists, out come reports that Pellegrino may in fact be in dire financial straits. “I am in a dire financial situation,” cried Mr.Pellegrino. “I have hacked my house, my property and companies.”

While downplaying the Tasi Tours fiasco–in which he coldly turned away Japanese tourists from his marina– Pellegrino now blames our local government for his “considerable” financial losses and “dire” predicament.
“The local government has betrayed that trust and faith in the agreement as they broke their promise,” said Pellegrino.

Setting aside the Tasi Tours incident for the moment, Pellegrino now would have us believe that private boat owners insist on getting a free ride. He claims that they refuse to adequately pay him for the use of his leased boating facilities–and that this is ruining him financially.

Pellegrino holds the local government responsible for this, because he says it refuses to force the private boat owners to ante up. “The government has the police powers to enforce the laws,” he says.
“When they refuse to do that, they are no longer a government,” said Pellegrino.

Pellegrino apparently expects the Department of Lands and Natural Resources to force the private boat owners into paying for the use of his leased marina. But this is not the department’s responsibility. Pellegrino leased the property from the government.
It is therefore his responsibility to see to it that his customers pay him for the use of his leased facilities.

If the private boat owners do not pay, Pellegrino should then sue them in open CNMI court. He should evict them. The Teno administration has nothing at all to do with it. The CNMI government should certainly not be made a scapegoat for Mr. Pellegrino’s apparently bad business decision to lease the marina.

Above all, if Mr. Pellegrino did in fact make a bad business decision, by all means, let him suffer the consequences of his decision. Let him go bankrupt, if necessary.

The CNMI government should not bail him out. The CNMI government should not engage in corporate welfare. The CNMI government should not subsidize private business.

Why should our local taxpayers be forced into paying for millionaire Pellegrino’s colossal business blunder? Indeed, we shouldn’t. The balance sheet of the Marine Revitalization Corporation is Pellegrino’s problem. If he can’t live up to his lease agreement, let the local government foreclose on MRC and reclaim the marina for tourists and private boat owners alike.