July 19, 2025

Tinian prepares for fiesta

More than 200 CNMI government employees and volunteers on Tinian participated in an island-wide clean-up that lasted three hours on Monday in observance of April as Environmental Awareness Month and to prepare for the upcoming San Jose Fiesta during the first week of May.

TINIAN—More than 200 CNMI government employees and volunteers on Tinian participated in an island-wide clean-up that lasted three hours on Monday in observance of April as Environmental Awareness Month and to prepare for the upcoming San Jose Fiesta during the first week of May.

Luis Lizama, an employee of the Department of Public Works, supervised 12 DPW employees during the cleanup.

“Our route began at the [Tinian International Airport], down Broadway to [Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino],” said Lizama. “We must have had the longest route, but we were happy to do it,” he added, laughing.

Other participating departments enjoyed the change in scenery, especially administrative personnel.

“The [Tinian Health Center] staff enjoyed the different setting,” said Rita Sn. Manglona, resident department head of the Tinian Health Center. Their assigned route took them from the former Q-Mart building to the Taga House park. “The sanitation division, the social workers, and some individuals from housekeeping and maintenance took part in the clean-up, but because we’re busy on Mondays, the rest of the critical staff remained behind,” she added.

When asked what trash they most commonly picked up along the roadsides, Tinian Municipal Council staff shared that beer and soda cans, and plastics were the most common types of trash found.

“More than half the trash we picked up were beer and soda cans, and small plastic bags [from grocery stores],” said Janet King, Executive Director of the Tinian Municipal Council, whose route took her and eight employees from Taga Video past Saint Joseph Catholic School and up to the old NMC campus in the village. “We filled six trash bags in one hour,” she added.

Other departments found more interesting things during their roadside trash pick-up in addition to trash and debris.

“We found an old, filthy one-dollar bill,” said Bernadita C. Palacios, resident department head of the Department of Community & Cultural Affairs, whose route took her past Myung Dong store, near where the crumpled bill was found. “[The DCCA staff] decided we would frame the bill and display it as a memento of our hard work today,” she added.

The island-wide cleanup was organized by the Marianas Visitors Authority, Division of Environmental Quality, and the Office of the Mayor in commemoration of Environmental Awareness Month and in time to prepare for the upcoming San Jose Fiesta held during the first week of May. Other participating departments included the Department of Public Safety, Department of Finance, Department of Labor & Immigration, Department of Commerce, Office of Personnel Management, and Department of Lands & Natural Resources.

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