{"id":222659,"date":"2016-03-10T04:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T18:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=222659"},"modified":"2016-03-10T04:00:50","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T18:00:50","slug":"222659","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/222659\/","title":{"rendered":"Santos: FEMA decision on flood insurance needs review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Santos\"<\/a>
Santos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ROTA<\/strong>\u2014\u201cWhen a policy decision piles hardship against families in a small island community, it\u2019s time revisit the genesis of the matter in the interest of ensuring that it doesn\u2019t suffocate or displace our people unnecessarily, \u201c said Sen. Terista Santos (R-Rota).<\/p>\n

Santos alluded to a letter she sent to the regional administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IX that ruled some three years ago that homeowners in some areas on Rota are flood prone and thus the need to buy flood insurance policies.<\/p>\n

Santos said the decision \u201cmisses the fact that some of the houses are situated in high grounds\u201d therefore the requirement of home insurance is irrelevant. \u201cIt\u2019s understood for homes located in lower lying areas but those in high elevation makes the requirement ludicrous\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision inadvertently places more families to endure hardship back home where the cost of living is triple the cost here in the business center,\u201d she noted. \u201cPolicy decisions are supposed to enhance the livelihood of our people not the reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should also be remembered that the family unit is the strongest institution anywhere in the world so let not a misperceived policy serve as a tool of familial hardship,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m optimistic it could be resolved forthwith\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis and other policies hailing from federal agencies that threaten our way of life definitely deserve critical review by both sides of the Pacific Divide,\u201d Santos noted. \u201cIt raises the urgency of the much sought 902 Talks so we review federal policies issued by what\u2019s known as the \u2018Administrative State\u2019 manned by people we never elected into office yet whose work product can\u2019t even be amended by the U.S. Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA perfect example of willful imposition of a disruptive federal policy is the acquisition of an enormous amount of public land for wild life at the expense of our way of life that includes farming,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cThis policy must receive critical review in the interest of the people I represent for I don\u2019t recall being elected by wildlife creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDNLR must work with Region IX\u2019s fish and wildlife and begin exploring translocation of wildlife to places like Sariguan in the north where they could propagate abundantly\u201d, she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nobody up there so why not bring Rota\u2019s wildlife there where conditions are basically the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time that we begin actively and proactively working jointly with Washington on matters where federal policies do threaten to interfere, inhibit or even violate the cultural heritage of our people\u201d, she noted. \u201cIt\u2019s also timely that we collectively join the request of the late governor for the revival of the 902 Talks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos further noted an article in National Affairs<\/em>, a quarterly journal in Washington, D.C., explaining a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who called into question \u201cthe constitutionality of the massive and largely unaccountable bureaucracy commonly referred to as the administrative state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn bold and clear prose, Thomas explained how the basic principles of our Constitution\u2019s separation of powers are incompatible with the system of bureaucratic rule that took root in the Progressive era and now reaches into virtually every realm of American life\u201d, said Santos.<\/p>\n

National Affairs<\/em> is a quarterly journal of essays about domestic policy, political economy, society, culture, and political thought. It aims to help Americans think a little more clearly about our public life, and rise a little more ably to the challenge of self-government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROTA\u2014\u201cWhen a policy decision piles hardship against families in a small island community, it\u2019s time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":222724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42,21,67,10198],"class_list":["post-222659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-food","tag-life","tag-people","tag-rota"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222659","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\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}