‘CNMI leaders must listen to the pleas of the hotels, businesses’

Rep. Thomas John Dela Cruz Manglona (R-Saipan) underscored the need for CNMI leaders to listen to the plea of the remaining hotels and businesses to welcome back all Asian tourism markets that are willing to partner with the Commonwealth and send tourists here.

“These businesses have invested so much in our community and we cannot afford at this point to pivot away from those that can provide much needed stability to our tourism industry,” said Manglona as he shared his views on the impending closure of Hyatt Regency Saipan during the House of Representatives special session last Thursday.

He said it’s not hard to see that the current existing tourism markets are just not enough to sustain the Commonwealth.

Manglona said CNMI leaders must trust those that are tasked with safeguarding the borders.

He said the news about Hyatt’s impending closure on June 30 “is troubling.”

He thanked Hyatt for its contributions throughout the years to the Commonwealth.

“And honestly, my heart goes out to all those staff that may be losing their jobs as a result,” the lawmaker said.

Manglona said quite frankly, there are so many businesses that are struggling to open at the moment and there are still so many of government employees on austerity.

He said since he is a member of the House minority, he is not privy to all the conversations and plans of the current administration.

Manglona, however, said from his observation over the past year, things have not seemed to get any better with the CNMI’s economic situation.

“And to be honest, if all we’re going to continue to do is blame the past, then we will never move ahead,” he said.

Manglona said he lost his daughter last year and as heartbreaking as that experience was, he would not be sitting before his colleagues in the House chamber if he continued to focus and cling to the thought that he could have changed the past.

“To be honest, going through that experience has only made me a stronger person today. Thankfully, because of her love for me, I chose to look for the good in every situation, to try my best to focus on positivity and spreading love and light because life is too short to waste. And I will not waste another moment of my time not speaking my truth,” he said.

Manglona said even though things may seem bleak at the moment for the islands, he still sees hope for the Commonwealth’s future.

He said he looks at this as an opportunity to learn from the mistakes, not dwell on it as the CNMI rebuilds even better.

Manglona said there are a few things that need to be addressed and first is that if the Legislature’s only solution is to raise taxes and fees at the moment, then “we will only kill our business sector quicker.”

The lawmaker said they charge businesses a pure tax, the Business Gross Revenue Tax, meaning that they don’t receive anything in return like the average working person does every year.

“They don’t even receive so much as a thank you at times from the government, yet we still want to take more, while we don’t even provide exceptional service to them or any sort of incentives for them to do business here,” Manglona said.

He said no offense to anyone working on government agencies, but the business license and permitting processes are in need of a massive overhaul.

Manglona said it is something that he is desperately trying to push for while he is still in office.

“We need to find more ways to support our existing businesses and entice more businesses. More businesses activity so we can grow the [revenue] pool that we collect from not shrink it,” he said.

Manglona said the government needs to find more ways to be more business friendly.

“I know that doesn’t mean that we’re going to let just anything slide. But we need to find more ways to create a more enticing tax system that will benefit both our government and those who choose to invest in here,” he said.

Manglona said the government must give opportunities for businesses to grow and become more stable, and assist them during tough times.

“Running a business is hard enough, but having an unsupportive government makes it ever harder,” he pointed out.

He said if the government can help stabilize the current business landscape and give more of a chance for all businesses to survive and thrive, then he truly believes that the CNMI is only one or two major investors away from turning the ship around.

“And if the current administration has them ready down the pipeline, then I truly applaud their efforts, but if not, the only we can do this is by fixing our current systemic issues and working together,” Manglona said.

He said leadership starts from the top down.

Manglona urged all CNMI leaders to come together, put politics and first personal biases aside and help fix these long-standing issues to make room for bigger, brighter things and restore hope to the CNMI.

“Our people deserve no less,” he said.

Rep. Marissa Renee Flores (Ind-Saipan) said she believes there is a misconception about what has been happening with the permanent closure of the Hyatt brand.

Flores said it is unfortunate as Gov. Arnold I. Palacios mentioned that CNMI leaders were not included in this conversation about Hyatt’s closure plan.

“But it is happening, the brand is leaving and we must continue to figure out ways to improve our commonwealth. And that stems from looking at the bigger issue. And this is a global problem, not just a Commonwealth problem,” she said.

Flores said in terms of economic, whatever affects globally, will affect the CNMI no matter what.

In response to Manglona’s statement about blaming the past, Flores said she would be remiss if she does not mention that the House special committee is now tasked with looking at a lot of the problems during the past administration.

She said the special committee was designed to investigate the abuse of public funds during that period.

Flores said they had just voted on the special committee report about holding former Department of Finance secretary David DLG. Atalig in contempt.

“While we sit here and we talk about all of that’s going on in our community, the livelihood of our people, the economy, and administration past and present, we still need to figure out what happened to the millions of dollars that we siphoned and misused. Because if it wasn’t for that, and we use that money correctly, we wouldn’t be here in this position,” she said.

Flores said as much as she does not want to look to the past, she will look to the past.

She urged all the agencies to work together and figure out a way to safeguard all of these displaced people in the private sector because this is going to be a problem.

Thomas John Dela Cruz Manglona