REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK

A cellular phone went off inside the House of Representatives chamber during the singing of the National Anthem. It went off again later during the governor’s address.
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Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s 2009 State of the Commonwealth Address lasted for 40 minutes, starting at 10:20am and ending at 11am. This was longer than his speech last year, which lasted 33 minutes.
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This year’s State of the Commonwealth Address was interrupted not by applauses but by two minor microphone mishaps.
The first was when Fitial was about to say that “Aggreko saved the CNMI from the dark and now we don’t need Aggreko for much longer.” The other one was when he said that federalization “puts our emerging education and education-tourism industry at risk.”
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The applause came only after the governor finished his address. The crowd in the House lobby was in standing ovation to applaud Fitial’s address. Throughout the address, the crowd was silent and intent on understanding every word the governor would say.
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The program started five minutes earlier than the 10am schedule, which is rare during government and private functions that do not start before or on the dot.
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Only 24 of the 29 members of the 16th Legislature were present at the SOCA.
Senate Vice Pres. Felix T. Mendiola was sick, while Sen. Paul Manglona was in Honolulu, Hawaii to take care of his mother who is in grave medical condition.
Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, a gubernatorial candidate, was off island. Rep. Ed Salas was also off island for medical reasons. Also absent was Rep. David Apatang.
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Lawmakers who came after the program started included Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider and Sen. Luis Crisostimo.
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There were vacant reserved seats in the House chamber minutes after the program had already started.
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The governor said more than $1 million, when he was supposed to say $100 million, referring to the revenue loss faced by the CNMI when it loses access to the Chinese and Russian markets due to federalization. After the governor’s address, Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos told Saipan Tribune that the governor misspoke the figure.
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At one point, the master of ceremony, Joseph LG. Taijeron Jr., mistakenly addressed Fitial as lieutenant governor. Except for this slip, Taijeron did a good job in hosting the program.
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When he was about to return to his seat at the end of his address, the governor shook hands with and then hugged Rep. Tina Sablan, whom he earlier described as “born with a stomachache,” when the two had a spat over Fitial’s praises of former Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez who was convicted by a federal jury on corruption charges in April.
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Toward the end of his address, the governor asked for God’s help, which was not part of his prepared speech.
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Fitial promised that tax refund and rebate checks will be out in about three weeks. The announcement made some government staff smile. One law enforcer immediately told Saipan Tribune to make sure to include in the news story the governor’s quote about the three-week promise.