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Flashback January 5, 1999-2003
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Posted on Jan 04 2009
[B]JANUARY 5, 1999[/B]
[B]Continental sees 3% fall in arrivals as Japan falters[/B]
Continental Micronesia has projected a three percent decline in Japanese traffic in Micronesia and Hawaii as the Japanese economy remains in the dump. Japan, the world’s second largest economy, plunged in deepest recession since World War II after the collapse of the speculative “bubble” economy in the late 1980s. Wally Dias, staff vice president for sales and promotions, said the airline has no plan to add flights or new routes in Micronesia and Asia as consumer confidence remains weak. “We’re just hoping it won’t go down further so that we can just fill up the current capacity,” said Dias.
[B]$100K deposit shouldn’t be kept idle: Reyes[/B]
House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes yesterday stressed the need to ease the requirement on the $100,000 security deposit imposed on foreign investments in the wake of the plan to establish the first free trade zone in the Northern Marianas. He said the cash bond should be converted into more tangible investments, such as an additional capital money for business expansion, in what may serve as another incentive to attract potential investors into the commonwealth. While the House has approved a measure removing the cash requirement, the Senate has yet to tackle the proposal despite urgent calls from the business sector to hasten its passage.
[B]JANUARY 5, 2001
Workers ordered to support claims[/B] U.S. District Judge Alex R. Munson has ordered garment factory workers suing their employers on Saipan to back allegations they were forced to pay recruitment fees in order to work on the island. He granted partly the two motions filed by garment manufacturers seeking to dismiss and strike the claims from the $1 billion class-action lawsuit. In his ruling issued the other day, the federal judge gave “one last opportunity” for the plaintiffs—who are unnamed guest workers employed by the local garment industry—to file an amended complaint within 20 days.
[B]DLNR extends Pohnpei food ban[/B] Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Joaquin A. Tenorio has extended for the seventh month since June last year the emergency order of quarantine banning the entry of food products from Pohnpei in light of a cholera epidemic in the Micronesian island. In an official order released yesterday, Dr. Tenorio warned that the risk posed by food originating from Pohnpei is potentially greater than the risk presented by food items imported from other FSM states. “There is currently a vibrio cholera epidemic in Pohnpei and it is important that the health of the people of the Commonwealth be protected,” the DLNR chief stated. [B]JANUARY 5, 2003Govt: Action-filled 2003[/B]
Gov. Juan N. Babauta gathered members of his Cabinet early this week to set goals for 2003-a time that the chief executive anticipates to be “probably the most defining year of his administration,” his public information officer said Friday. Peter Callaghan, the administration’s spokesperson, said that Cabinet members were encouraged to think of ways to reduce costs and increase revenues. “He wants cooperation and support from all his Cabinet members to address the serious issues faced by the Commonwealth. He described 2002 as probably the worst year we’ve ever had economically.
[B]
Budget requests due on Jan. 31[/B]
The Office of Management and Budget has handed down the budget call, asking government agencies to work on their appropriations requests for fiscal year 2004, with the deadline set for January 31, 2003. Public agencies are not bound by any specified budget ceiling but OMB underscored that revenue projections for FY2004 are anticipated to be close, if not lower than, the current levels. “With this in mind, agencies are asked to limit their budget request to ensure basic and core delivery of public services only, and not more, unless critically needed,” OMB stressed.
