Ada patriarch endorses BB ticket

The CNMI’s first lieutenant governor, Francisco C. Ada, has endorsed the re-election bid of Gov. Juan N. Babauta over the weekend, according to GOP chair John S. Reyes yesterday.

He said Ada formally announced his support for the governor at his residence on Lower Navy Hill Saturday afternoon.

“We’re very happy for this endorsement from a very respectable man, highly reputable leader of the Commonwealth,” said Reyes.

He said Ada’s support is “a big boost” to the Babauta-Benavente ticket.

“People who we have great respect are coming to express their support to the governor and the party. The choice in this election is getting clearer and clearer. It’s BB,” he said.

Ada reportedly favored Babauta because “the governor has more experience, has a better agenda and is just the right leader for the people.”

Ada served as the CNMI’s first elected lieutenant governor. Before this, he was a district administrator and acting resident commissioner during the Northern Marianas government’s transition from the U.N. Trust Territory period.

In honor of Ada’s contribution to the Commonwealth, a Saipan local law was enacted in Oct. 2002 renaming the Saipan International Airport after him. A formal ceremony renaming the airport as Francisco C. Ada International Airport was held earlier this year.

In this remarks during the ceremony, the 70-year old Ada said he was appreciative of the recognition but he said that “the name was secondary to what the effort stands for, which is working together with the federal government [to achieve our goals].”

As a district administrator in the early 1970s, Ada was reportedly instrumental in developing the airport “by taking advantage of grants made available by the National Airport Airways Development Act and heeding the advice of a nationally ranked airport consultant for modern terminal facilities.”

Ada is also credited for spearheading the formation of an airline technical committee that fostered partnership between the government and the private sector for the purpose of assisting the construction of a new airport.

Further, authorities credited Ada for his foresight to create the Mariana Islands Airport Authority, a self-sustaining agency that later became the Commonwealth Ports Authority.

Ada is the father of Commonwealth Development Authority executive director Maria Lourdes Ada, Dr. Norma Ada; Eloise A. Furey, a former director of the Department of Youth Services and currently a member of the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents; attorney Lilian A. Tenorio; Revenue and Taxation director Esther A. Calvo; Office of Personnel Management classification manager Frank Ada; and Luciana A. Schupert, who is based in Los Angeles.