Lt. Gov. Raphael Torres refuses to answer questions about his Hong Kong, Macau, and Manila trips reportedly per his counsel\u2019s advice. This pricked my curiosity and definitely raises more questions of trips in 2013-2014 along with his servile cabal that co-opted casino investors with grand obedience in servility.
\nAs an observer I may have to keep my trap shut.<\/p>\n
But as a taxpayer, I\u2019d like to know who paid for the trips: Did Torres pay for it? Was it paid for by taxpayers\u2019 money? Or was it an all-expense paid trip by a mystery firm? It is rumored that the trip between Hong Kong and Macau was done via private jet.<\/p>\n
Wasn\u2019t this a form of gobbling freebies the perfect recipe to compromising integrity in the process? Is this why the repeal and substitution of the original casino law in the last Legislature per the whimsical dictates of BSI? This definitely is a tale of character compromising integrity altogether. It\u2019s a predatory scheme you and cabal had co-opted that would eventually lead to cultural marginalization and permanent destruction.<\/p>\n
Torres won\u2019t even answer who authored the HK-drafted casino bill. Legislative counsels here said it \u201cmysteriously\u201d appeared and \u201ctiptoed\u201d through both chambers in quick succession and inked at midnight.<\/p>\n
But didn\u2019t the House impeach a governor for lack of transparency and couldn\u2019t hold the same self-imposed standard against itself? Appalling the new modus operandi in the culture of the ephemeral doubled down by deceit!<\/p>\n
As it is BSI has yet to find and secure land and ensure that basic infrastructure deficit and requisite labor needs are resolved accordingly. Did you people ignore federal mandate that the NMI replace non-citizen workers with citizens over the next five years? Realistic hurdles the NMI must resolve forthwith. The people you represent, e.g., \u201cwe the people\u201d deserve to know answers to these queries, sir! It\u2019s all about transparency and the rule of law in a democracy!<\/p>\n
An article in The Wall Street Journal (Asian Edition) two days ago reported a 17.4 percent drop in revenues in Macau casinos, what with the purging of corruption that kills both money laundering and junket tours, the playground of the triad. Do you understand the implications of these events against your pipe dream investment scheme here?<\/p>\n
You literally must build a towering air bridge to escort it home, true? Someone once said don\u2019t insult an alligator until you cross the river. The alligators\u2014we the people\u2014are here watching, patiently, munching on breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n
Indigenous issues as cover<\/strong> Whatever it may be, it\u2019s hierarchical burnout. The supple muscles melt while mental acuity heads toward dementia land where you meet \u201csenior moments\u201d or fuzzy memory.<\/p>\n Strange, though, how political dinosaurs have never learned this life\u2019s lesson. The clever use of the term \u201cindigenous\u201d as though peripheral or inconsequential depicts the depth of their understanding of indigenous issues. Moreover, their understanding is founded in the culture of the ephemeral\u2014it doesn\u2019t last at all.<\/p>\n Though we kept our sentiments under the cover of civility, we know it was nothing more than last ditch political exploitation that quickly evaporated as a result of the lack of credibility and substance. Well, we\u2019ve sent them on that final journey into the sunset.<\/p>\n Strangely, people I thought were trustworthy crumbled like crispy marshland reed when faced with the moral issue of leadership on casino. They turned partners of the political elite, co-opting casino investors by taking their place in the chow line for their share of unearned glory. Why didn\u2019t they slam the deal?<\/p>\n Ironically, they wanted change but refused to put their best foot forward when it really mattered. It goes to show their character, lack of principle and gravitas. Embarrassing!<\/p>\n Said management guru Peter Drucker, \u201cManagement is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.\u201d They have neither! They had Magoo yawning for the last three months already!<\/p>\n In the midst of the deepening economic mess, have the guys really buckled down to studying our economic posture, specifically what contributed to revenue generation going south? Was it all \u201cbiba,\u201d ignorant of how we\u2019ve missed the boat while sitting at the port?<\/p>\n Our land is leased dirt cheap, then we become nothing more than servile utilitarian as bellboys, gardeners, chambermaids, sales clerks, janitors, bus drivers, etc. Is this our future in tourism?\u00a0 If anything, there\u2019s only one thing we\u2019ve embraced with real time consistency: inconsistency and redundant adolescent disorientation! Hello! Anybody home?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lt. Gov. Raphael Torres refuses to answer questions about his Hong Kong, Macau, and Manila…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1311,256,529,67],"class_list":["post-191221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-bsi","tag-casino","tag-macau","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191221","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen we reach the pinnacle of our career, the only other turn is the inevitable: Descent or a slow walk down the stairs to where we started. It is as sure as gravity confirming, time and again, that what goes up must come down.<\/p>\n