{"id":225921,"date":"2016-04-20T06:06:23","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T20:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=225921"},"modified":"2016-04-20T06:06:23","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T20:06:23","slug":"customs-division-graduates-16-cadets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/customs-division-graduates-16-cadets\/","title":{"rendered":"Customs division graduates 16 cadets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The graduating class of the 5th Cycle for the Customs Cadet Academy do a little dance for the crowd to close yesterday\u2019s graduation ceremony held at the Division of Customs on the Port of Saipan. (Dennis B. Chan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI Division of Customs graduated yesterday 16 cadets from an extensive eight-week training program, adding more bodies to the work of guarding the CNMI\u2019s borders from illegal goods and substances.<\/p>\n

The ceremony held behind the Customs office at the Saipan seaport yesterday morning was attended by a crowd of family and heads of government, including lawmakers, Attorney General Edward Manibusan, and department heads.<\/p>\n

Acting governor Victor Hocog, alluding to recent allegations and arrests of law enforcement officials, urged the cadets to perform their duties with diligence and in good faith, abiding by the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s try to protect and restore the trust\u201d in law enforcement, Hocog said. He added that the week prior was a \u201chectic\u201d week, referring to the arrest and allegations against former Department of Public Safety commissioner James Deleon Guerrero for sexually abusing a minor, who Hocog has put on \u201csuspension without pay\u201d to allow the legal process to take its course.<\/p>\n

Hocog also said the additional 16 cadets make it \u201cmore easier\u201d to prevent unwanted goods in the CNMI, and added that if they are \u201clax\u201d drugs would circle and \u201cruin the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end the governance will not be run by our people, it will be taken over by these people who are trying to poison the minds, the hearts, the physical being of our people,\u201d Hocog said. \u201cStay the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did an awesome job,\u201d Customs director Jose Mafnas told reporters after the ceremony. \u201cThey survived the training. A lot of it was fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the additional 16 personnel\u201413 on Saipan and three on Rota\u2014would help their operation with \u201cthe guaranteed new airlines that are coming into the CNMI.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an addition of about 800 passengers,\u201d said Mafnas. The new airlines are Philippines Airlines, Jin Air, Hong Kong International, and Hong Kong Express, he said.<\/p>\n

Veterans Affairs director Gregorio Sablan, a former Customs official, said the new customs officials will strengthen their numbers at the borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a war against ice, so the more people and the more training that is afforded to them will make our island more safe,\u201d and allow them \u201cto intercept illegal contraband and narcotics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time a narcotic goes on the street, it destroys communities, it destroys lives. We need to put a stop to that. As long as these drug dealers have money, the will always be two steps ahead of us, we need to catch up and do a choke on their supply at all ports of entry,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Increase in traffic, revenues<\/p>\n

From October 2015 to March 2016, Customs collected $6 million more compared to the same period last fiscal year, Mafnas said yesterday.<\/p>\n

In 2015, within the same six-month period, they collected about $15.7 million and in fiscal year \u201916, they collected $21.7 million. \u201cAnd we are still half-way\u201d through fiscal year, he added.<\/p>\n

Mafnas, when asked, attributed this to more inspections. We caught a couple of undeclared goods but that\u2019s minor. Its just there\u2019s an increase of cargo entering the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI set the goal that \u2018let\u2019s collect more.\u2019 Let\u2019s keep more than what we collected in the pervious year and its\u2019 really working,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of the officers here. They work hard. Unloading and inspecting a container, especially small items, is not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Department of Finance Secretary Larissa Larson, in her remarks, also thanked the cadets\u2019 family member for their support as the cadets give long hours and difficult days to their work. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going to need you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to see great things from Customs over the next few years. The $6 million is nothing. You are going to see more,\u201d Larson said. Customs is a division under the finance department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CNMI Division of Customs graduated yesterday 16 cadets from an extensive eight-week training program,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":225924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[46,26,67,8928],"class_list":["post-225921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-ceremony","tag-cnmi","tag-people","tag-victor-hocog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225921","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}