Torres: It’s not what I supported
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said yesterday that the intent of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan’s (Ind-MP) House Resolution 339 and the repercussions of it after being enacted into law was something that he did not support.
Members of the Northern Marianas Business Alliance Corp. said in a statement last Monday that their trip to Washington, D.C. to discuss the fate of the CW-1 Program unearthed that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been denying CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program applications for occupations such as general maintenance, gardeners, handymen, and other technical jobs due to it falling under the construction worker category.
After asking for comments, Torres told Saipan Tribune that H.R. 339’s effect to the CNMI was ultimately detrimental to the economy.
“…My support [on the bill] originally is not what has transpired and it is not what I supported; the outcome of [H.R. 339’s enactment] is devastating everybody here on the island and I am very concerned because those good folks that have been here on the island as construction workers, maintenance workers, gardeners—all fall under the category of construction workers,” Torres said in an interview during the opening of the new police substation in San Roque yesterday.
H.R. 339, among other things, has a provision that bars construction workers from utilizing the CW-1 program to work in the CNMI.
USCIS, according to NMBAC, considers occupations that deal with “general repairs” to fall under the U.S. Department of Labor’s overall construction category, which was used in H.R. 339.
“[Sablan’s] bill, H.R. 339, is going to devastate not just the CNMI, but even people’s lives…every plumber, gardener, anybody under the maintenance category would be removed because of H.R. 339–which allowed the definition of construction to be extended also for the CW-1 program [and] was [also] not my [intention] for supporting the bill,” said Torres.
Saipan Tribune attempted to reach out to Sablan, but failed due to the fact that according to the delegate’s deputy communications director Tina Sablan, the delegate was travelling.
Torres said his office would be “writing some letters” to communicate his concerns with Sablan.
“…We will continue to keep moving forward. I am here to support the NMBAC and our efforts to continue fighting for the workforce of the CNMI because what has transpired is absolutely unacceptable for our economy to continue to grow,” he said.
USPL 110-229 has the transition provision into US immigration you ignored since two years ago. And now you’re trying to figure out an exit for your grand failure? Why can’t you own-up to how grandly you failed to implement the transition provision for over two years?
Well now it starts, the finger pointing……typical politician. Remember when it hits the fan…..”search for the guilty and glorify the innocent”. What is really believable is that the NMBAC had to go all of the way to Washington to find out that no CW-1’s will be issued for Constructions jobs. We knew this at my job for quite some time now. it sounds like no one knows what the heck they are doing. Another perfect example of a lack or good leadership.
CNMI Voter: You Torres are not what I supported.
How is it possible that the GOVERNOR does not know exactly what was on HR 339, did he not read it before it became law?Too may excuses, stop blaming and do something productive. On the radio this morning when asked how you intend to fix the issue, your answer was to replace Kilili, I mean seriously? Is that really your main solution here? You have zero confidence in your own people and by own people I mean the people of the CNMI. You have no clue what you are doing, you have no business being governor. This island has become quite pathetic, being run by Chinese who pay you off, being run by politicians lie yourself who are corrupt, backwards in thinking and shameless. You make it sound like Kilili is the one responsible and should be held liable when in fact you are the GOVERNOR f the CNMI, the top guy is always responsible when anything in law fails. You are failing and finding others to blame. How about working up a plan to fix the issues you see at hand instead of pointing fingers, how about come up with ideas together. Because so far your best solution is to replace people.
I researched Hr 339 as it originally came to vote in Congress. There were three amendments that were made 2 were punctuation corrections and the third was to add the 1500 cap. So what I have to ask is what bill did he not support as he stated. The guy is spinning his wheels. He has no idea what he is talking about. Perhaps he does in fact need to “write some letters”.
Our representative in Washington tried to tell those who came that it is not up to the CNMI to decide the CW process. It lies in the hands of the “process” as it was passed into law. Congress and only Congress can make any changes. These issues have an end. That end is the follow through of the passage of the law that removes foreign labor, in its current form, from the workforce. It is done in order to provide jobs to our citizens. The fact that CW1’s are classified as construction labor is not a new fact. How was it that the business community that ventured to Washington did not know this before getting on the plane is beyond me. Now the finger pointing starts as is always the case when things here get tough, instead of fixing the problem. Planning for it, committing programs to it and put more of our people in the workforce. But instead we point the finger and complain.