NMI yet to pay $20K in dues to APIL

The CNMI has yet to pay its annual dues for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 totaling $20,000 to the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures, even as 11 lawmakers and Legislative Bureau staffers from the Commonwealth fly off to Palau next week to attend the APIL general assembly.

Walden Weilbacher, the APIL’s Central Secretariat based in Guam, confirmed with Saipan Tribune that the CNMI has yet to pay the $10,000 in annual dues for fiscal year 2010 and another $10,000 for fiscal year 2011.

Of the 11 from the CNMI who will be attending the June 15 to 17 APIL assembly, five are members of the House of Representatives, two are senators, and four are from the Legislative Bureau.

Weilbacher separately said the CNMI has an 11-member delegation to Palau next week based on their records.

In the absence of a budget for fiscal year 2010, the CNMI government automatically started operating under the 2009 budget, amounting to $148.5 million, which included $42,712 for “APIL/APPU.”

APPU stands for Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union, whose members also include the CNMI, just like APIL.

The 2011 budget, however, does not include a specific budget for APIL/APPU.

Article 11 of the APIL bylaws requires that payment of the annual dues from each APIL member “shall be due annually on or before Oct. 31 for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.” Such payment shall be made to the Central Secretariat, who shall maintain all financial records on behalf of the Treasurer.

“Any member that has not paid its annual dues by Dec. 31 shall become an inactive member,” the APIL bylaws partly read.

It’s not immediately known whether the CNMI has been placed on an “inactive member” status as a result of the non-payment of at least the 2010 dues, because it has been a year after the Dec. 31, 2010, deadline for payment of the previous fiscal year’s annual fee.

Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan), a member of the APIL board of directors until January this year when Rep. Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) became the speaker, said the CNMI delegation will be turning over the CNMI’s annual dues of $10,000 for 2010 when they get to Palau for next week’s general assembly.

“We only have money for one year [2010]. We are still scrounging to pay the next one,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Deleon Guerrero will be among those attending the APIL assembly next week.

He said after asking the presiding officers of the Legislature, they agreed that annual dues to the APIL are an “allowable cost.”

Deleon Guerrero also said he plans to present next week an APIL resolution expressing support to Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s HR 670, which conveys 3 miles of submerged lands to the CNMI.

House minority leader Diego Benavente (R-Saipan), who was a member of the APIL board of directors for years since 1990, said he will be speaking about the CNMI’s shark fin ban law, which he had authored.

APIL, in a separate statement, also said they will premiere Rob Stewart’s new short video, Sharkwater Saipan at the assembly in Palau.

House Vice Speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov-Saipan) and Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan) are current members of the APIL board of directors, representing the CNMI.

Besides Ogumoro, Reyes, Deleon Guerrero, and Benavente, the other CNMI lawmakers going to Palau for the APIL assembly are Rep. Rafael Demapan (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Tony Sablan (R-Saipan) and Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota).

Those from the Legislative Bureau are director Glenna SP. Reyes, House legal counsel Joe Taijeron, a House legislative assistant, and a Senate legislative assistant.

There were “at least four” other lawmakers who initially planned to join the delegation but backed out, including Sen. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan) and Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota). Two others did not want to comment on their initial plan.

There’s a special APIL assembly roundtrip airfare of $360. The normal price could be about $680.

Other lawmakers said an 11-member delegation may be too large a number, considering that the CNMI government is trying to make ends meet.