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$400K allotted for Tinian scholarships, medical assistance
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Posted on Sep 22 2004
Gov. Juan N. Babauta signed into law Tuesday House Bill 14-011, appropriating the remaining balance of the Saipan Trust Fund for Tinian residents.
The law appropriates about $400,000 from the Saipan Trust Fund, currently managed by the Marianas Public Land Trust, to Tinian residents for scholarship, medical supplemental assistance, and other public programs.
“The enactment of this measure will ensure that critical needs of the residents of [Tinian] who are of Northern Marianas descent are met. This measure accomplishes this by providing for greater access to education, health care, and other public programs,” Babauta said in a letter to House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial and Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano.
The fund, originally established as the Special Deposit Fund on Oct. 1, 1957, represented monies received from the United States as compensation for land use and occupancy on Saipan and Tinian during the Trust Territory period.
“The use of the funds was governed by Article IV of the Navy Order, which stated that the ‘funds received into the Special Deposit Fund will be used for the benefit of the indigenous inhabitants of the islands of Saipan and Tinian…’” Babauta said.
The fund has been used for projects on Saipan, including a $67,729 appropriation for the Saipan Scholarship Program; a $130,000 loan to the Saipan Housing Authority; and the appropriation of $240,000 for the installation of a Saipan sewer line and road paving. Also, $694,328 of the fund was used from 1956 to 1965 to construct the Saipan hospital.
The fund was transferred to the Department of Finance at the end of the TT period, and to MPLT in 1991.
The bill was introduced by Reps. Norman S. Palacios, Claudio K. Norita, and Timothy P. Villagomez.
