The ‘real’ state of the Commonwealth

Please give me an opportunity to explain to the CNMI people the real State of the Commonwealth or for that matter, of CUC, from someone who knows what is really going on.

To be honest, the State of Commonwealth could be doing better. It’s okay, but it could be doing better. I’m beginning to get upset each day reading the papers as everyone tries to blame the governor. Give him a break; he is trying his best to rectify the situation. He is probably the most educated governor we ever had in the CNMI and is very hardworking.

About CUC, do the numbers. Hire an independent auditor to synthesize the government’s CUC bills and see what comes out. In my opinion, though, people should realize that the way of life is growing and becoming more expensive and moving at a faster pace. Just imagine, CUC in the past few years did not have to carry the load of a Juvenile Detention Center in Kagman, nor Kagman High, Kagman Elementary, Chacha Jr. High, or Saipan Southern High School. The government’s CUC bill will continue to increase as the CNMI increases its infrastructure, especially in education, public health, and public safety. Sure the Legislature appropriates $5 million a year to pay for the government’s CUC bills but that’s a budget for several years ago. This year the governor had to dip into government office’s accounts to pay for an additional $5.2 million for CUC bills because the Legislature can’t pass a reasonable budget that includes adequate payment to CUC.

Oh, another thing, if you don’t notice, there’s a lot of CUC projects requiring man hours to create and oversee new drainage, sewer hookups, and water line projects. This could be another cause for CUC not having enough funds to pay for fuel.

This is not to mention the rise in fuel cost around the world, which can’t be blamed on the CNMI governor. If you don’t understand, we are a small island chain dependent on the outside world for supplies, thus making external forces affect us too—hello! If you don’t know economics or capitalism, write to me.

Another thing, if things get old, they tend to break down, just like our CUC generators. So what do we need to do—fix it, right? It’s just coincidence that all these problems are arising now.

In addition, more and more computers are being used by the government; this eats up a lot of power. This equates to the government moving toward a quantified, systematic, and electronic-processing phase. How about the lighting at the pathway or when we watch night games at the Palacios field? That eats up a lot of power, right? Then why do we endorse such activities? Because we want these things like playing baseball at night or walking at the pathway. Why again? Because it’s out of convenience and pleasure; we work in the day and relax or exercise at night. It’s plain and simple. The weather is cooler at night and that’s basically the only time we have to do what we want after work, unless you’re rich or something.

What I can say is that the people sitting up at the Legislature (and how many times have they been sitting up there) need to wise up and calculate power consumption for an expanding government. I don’t know if many of them know math up there, but I can surely help them add things up or write their bills for them, especially one that can identify how to pay for the government’s CUC bill without repealing the surcharge. I know I hate the surcharge, but I hate blackouts more. Many of us just work to pay CUC and this shouldn’t be the case, therefore bombard your congressman to increase the minimum wage or call OPEC, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Iraq, or the President to find out what is really going on with the rise in fuel. If you get no answer, check your congressman again. Maybe they can make a bill to subsidize every consumer’s fuel consumption by an invisible bill with no money attached to it.

Oh, one last thing. I challenge the leadership of the House to create a minimum wage-hike bill, one that would raise the minimum wage by one cent. Why? We are always raising the issue of $5 or $0.30 a year. Can we try at least one cent so the people can see if you guys are really working up there and so we can get some hope of seeing the wage go up. Come on, it’s only one cent. I wonder how long will this take? It should take a matter of seconds to say yes, I hope. Why you may ask? Because, if you guys up there can’t even raise the minimum wage by one cent, why keep trying for higher? Let’s be realistic and think a little bit more. With the number of years you guys have not acted on the wage hike, it’s “almost” a penny a year gone by; we could be there already. Just remember, if you didn’t already know, the governor can’t raise the minimum wage without the creation and passage of a bill from the Legislature. It’s simple Pol. Sci. 101. One cent can help and hurt but I know I hate seeing that one cent go up for fuel at the gas pumps even more.

Another thing for you fellas up there: Stop making bills that will appropriate money to different projects without studying where all the money should be going. I mean, I see all these bills for construction, and yet we still can’t pay for things and on time. You guys are eating up the funds too; let’s pay the bills first, accumulate a surplus and then write a bill later. Why don’t you guys write a bill that must require you to pass a budget—oh I forgot, that’s what the CNMI Constitution states.

I hope I have offered some assistance to the Legislature and raised awareness among people because we can’t be ignorant about the what’s really going on. I wish we can live in a perfect world, but we can’t always have it our way. Many times, there are bigger forces guiding our direction and we need to clean our own house before we get somewhere.

Jay Cabrera
Chalan Piao, Saipan