Lt. gubernatorial bets square off at NMC

Candidates for lieutenant governor sparred Thursday afternoon as they sought to win favor with young voters at the Northern Marianas College.

The four candidates—incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, Covenant Party candidate Vice Speaker Timothy Villagomez, Democrat Antonio Santos, and independent Rep. David Apatang—debated starting 5pm, taking randomly chosen questions from the college students.

Benavente, the incumbent candidate, touted the accomplishments of the current Babauta administration, while his three opponents promised to do a better job if elected.

One of the most difficult questions asked during the debate involved the size of the government workforce.

Santos, the only candidate who is currently not in elected office, said there is an excess of personnel in government. He stressed the need to promote employment in the private sector.

Apatang took the opportunity to criticize officials who hire employees for political reasons. “We can’t continue to give favors to get people’s votes,” he said.

For Villagomez, the government should reallocate resources from non-essential agencies to more essential ones, rather than terminate employees.

Meanwhile, Benavente said that there would be a continued need to hire people, as long as new facilities were being built and government services upgraded. “What we should look into is more possibilities for the government to transfer some of its responsibilities to the private sector,” he said.

The candidates outlined their positions on the following issues:
• On a proposal to remove the Constitutional provision limiting the right to land ownership to people of NMI descent, Benavente said he supported extending the lease period allowed for foreign investors rather than getting rid of the local protection altogether. Apatang said he would oppose any move to repeal the provision. Santos and Villagomez said they would rather have the people decide on it.

• On violation of environmental regulations, Apatang and Villagomez said there should be stricter enforcement of laws. Santos said that regulations should be revisited and a mass public education campaign regarding the environment should be initiated. Benavente listed environmental projects undertaken by the present administration, including the construction of the Marpi sanitary landfill, the closure of the Puerto Rico dump, and a new contract to address environmental hazards caused by the drainage system of a Garapan hotel.

• On the government’s takeover of the La Fiesta shopping complex, all but Benavente described it as a mistake. Villagomez said the government should not have done it because there was never enough funding for the project; Santos said the money used for La Fiesta should have been used instead to expand NMC’s As Terlaje campus; and Apatang said the lack of planning in the La Fiesta project drained NMC’s finances. Benavente, however, said that the Pacific Gateway Project “would have been the education industry that we needed.” The plan would have worked, he said, if the college took the government’s offers of help from the beginning.

The debate was sponsored by the NMC class on democratic institutions under instructor Sam McPhetres. Attendance was limited to students, faculty, staff, and the press.