Gonzales officially announces his candidacy for delegate

John Oliver Delos Reyes Gonzales formally announced yesterday that he will be running as a candidate for delegate to the U.S. Congress this November. He has applied to be on the slate of the NMI Republican Party, which will later have a primary to choose their delegate bet.

NMI Republican Party chair Diego Benavente disclosed that, as of 5pm Friday, which was the deadline to submit a letter of intent to run for delegate, only Gonzales and Kimberlyn King-Hinds have submitted their letters of intent to the party.

The Republican Party has to decide at a later date when to hold a primary to vote on who between Gonzales and King-Hinds will be their candidate for delegate. The NMI Democratic Party’s candidate for delegate is Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan).

Gonzales launched his delegate bid on the KKMP radio station yesterday, saying he will be building upon the successes and strategic network of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) and leveraging the Covenant “in order to lobby for critical leadership support aimed at customizing legislation and U.S. federal policies and to carve out specific exemptions necessary to meet the CNMI’s extenuating geographical, economic, and social circumstances.” The Covenant is the document that created the relationship between the CNMI and the United States.

Gonzales said the CNMI is geographically remote where 90% or more of the foods and commodities are largely imported so it must justify its case as a “Historically Underutilized Business Zone” in order to secure funding and programs to jumpstart, revitalize, and sustain its fragile economy.

Gonzales plans to craft what he describes as sensible legislation to alleviate the “unrelenting high costs of living” of the islands.

He said he would lobby for and explore utilities infrastructure funding to build new power plants with fuel efficient and environmentally sustainable engines to reduce the cost of utility bills.

Gonzales said he would lobby for and explore public hospitals infrastructure funding to rehabilitate/upgrade current and/or build new hospitals. He said the hospitals should be furnished with the latest medical equipment and technology for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota to medically care for the people here and avoid the need for and reduce the exorbitant cost of medical referral abroad, unless medically necessary.

Gonzales said he would “rescue” the middle income while supporting low income, retirees, and senior citizens by revisiting U.S. federal policies, qualification criteria, and/or income brackets, to equalize benefits across the board just like other U.S. citizens in the mainland.

He said this is needed so people can qualify for and avail of all federal programs related to social security, health insurance deductibles, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, food, housing, education, scholarships, agricultural, small businesses, cultural, and eco-tourism.

Gonzales said there should be an NMI-only immigration policy by stabilizing technical labor workforce in order to resuscitate and stimulate the Commonwealth’s fragile island economy in the long term.

“Let us learn from the current immigration touchback issue that chokes our economic and infrastructure progress,” he added.

Gonzales underscored the need to pursue a strategic U.S. visa waiver for the Philippines, as the CNMI’s most trusted and tested labor source markets since the islands became a Commonwealth in the ’70s and before that in the ’60s when his father and his fellow Filipino nationals arrived here in the Marianas.

He noted that U.S. corporations are set to invest $1 billion in the Philippines according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who recently met with Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Alfredo Pascual in Manila.

Gonzales said the CNMI’s close proximity, similar cultural ties, and historical source for labor recruitment from the Philippines make it the most logical and feasible solution to the CNMI’s labor workforce woes.

He said this will provide immediate help to resuscitate the CNMI’s stagnant economy and move long delayed infrastructure and business expansion projects forward without further delays.

To revitalize and create new industries beyond tourism, Gonzales said the CNMI must proactively and aggressively explore U.S. corporations, along with a few quality multinational foreign corporations, to invest here in the CNMI in lucrative industries such as parts and technology chips, electronics, prefabricated building manufacturing, financial centers, call centers, information technology, trades and transhipment and explore the CNMI targeted economic subsidies and/or tax credit incentives to attract quality business investors.

Gonzales has a degree in political science and history and has a master’s degree in business in international management.

Gonzales first worked in 1993 as a legislative staffer for the Senate president and senators, then moved to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. as a policy and legal assistant to the executive director.

Gonzales served as a chief of staff and policy staffer to former Tenorio-Sablan administration, and later under Eloy S. Inos-Ralph DLG Torres/Victor Hocog where he worked on NMI-federal relation issues related to the Covenant.

Gonzales’ work as a senior policy staff under two gubernatorial administrations allowed him to represent CNMI governors and/or lieutenant governors at U.S. national meetings in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the U.S., Noumea, Fiji, Pohnpei, and Hawaii.

As chairman during seven out of eight years at the former Northern Marianas Trades Institute, their board of directors was able to secure about $12 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and about $7 million from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. Community Development Block Grant-DR Infrastructure grants.

Gonzales said they proudly handed over the CDBG-Disaster Recovery grants to the new government and Northern Marianas Technical Institute in 2020 to build a LEED-certified new campus with expanded offerings of technical and vocational programs.

As president of the Commonwealth Health Center Volunteers Association, Gonzales said their board of directors presented $150,000 to CHC to defray the cost of replacing the built-in oxygen machines in all the rooms of CHC.