\u2022 During the election for House speaker, Rep. Antonio Sablan (Ind-Saipan) had to clarify that the vote for \u201cJoseph Guerrero\u201d was for Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) and should not be confused with Joseph \u201cLee Pan\u201d Guerrero (R-Saipan) who is a first-term representative.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Of the 20 House of Representatives members that were sworn in yesterday, only Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan) didn\u2019t wear a suit and tie among the men, instead opting for a barong Tagalog, the traditional formal attire in the Philippines. Yumul\u2019s father, Jess, hails from Pampanga in the Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) said he was trying hard not to cry during his speech because he had a bet with Yumul on whoever sheds a tear would have to fork out $50.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rep. Vinson Sablan (Ind) would\u2019ve lost the bet and be $50 poorer as the first-term representative was visibly emotional when he recalled the lessons from his late father, Juan Reyes Sablan.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) thanked the late former speaker Jesus P. Mafnas for establishing the Youth Congress. The former press secretary is the very first CNMI Youth Congress delegate to be voted to the Legislature.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Demapan sat next to Propst in the House chamber. The two used to not see eye to eye on a plethora of issues during the administration of former governor Benigno R. Fitial. They have since smoked the peace pipe and vowed to work together in the 19th House.<\/p>\n
\u2022 After three women served in the 18th House of Representatives, only Rep. Felicidad T. Ogumoro (R-Saipan) was elected in the 19th House.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Speaker Deleon Guerrero and Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) had to drastically cut their speeches short as the organizational session was pushing toward 1:30pm. Both asked House clerk Linda B. Muna to just accept their lengthy written statements on the record.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) also cut his speech short as he seconded Tebuteb\u2019s comment when the former Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chair said he could already hear Rep. Anthony Benavente\u2019s (Ind-Saipan) grumbling stomach.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Before the organizational session was adjourned, Vice Speaker Demapan made a point of clarification that Speaker Deleon Guerrero will yield the speakership to him on the \u201csecond Monday of January 2016 and not the second Monday of January 2015,\u201d which Deleon Guerrero mistakenly said. This brought a chorus of laughter from the gallery and Deleon thanked Demapan for the clarification \u201cif not he will have to give up the speakership tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Near the end of his message, Speaker Deleon Guerrero jokingly told Yumul that he believes he already made a lot of money because of the many representatives crying during their speeches.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rookie Sen. Teresita A. Santos twice addressed Senate President Victor B. Hocog as \u201cMr. Speaker\u201d which the latter joked that if the legislator from Rota repeats it again he would penalize her. That elicited laughter from all of those present. Santos was a former representative before being elected to the Senate.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Gov. Eloy S. Inos and his daughter, Dora, as well as Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and his wife, Lady Diane, rode ATVs to the inauguration stage.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A high chair was placed behind Inos during his close to 30-minute speech but the governor didn’t use it despite being slowed down by an apparent cold.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Torres’ brothers\u2014Vince, Victorino, and Joaquin\u2014became quite emotional when the lieutenant governor spoke about the siblings’ deceased father<\/p>\n
\u2022 The lieutenant governor volunteered that until now his mother would scold him if he comes home after\u00a012 midnight.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Former representative and KSPN anchor Tina Sablan was one of the attendees of the House inauguration. (With Jon Perez)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2022 During the election for House speaker, Rep. Antonio Sablan (Ind-Saipan) had to clarify that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[152,65,63],"class_list":["post-189302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-deleon-guerrero","tag-house","tag-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}