Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) is concerned if ever there\u2019s still time to implement the results of the four rounds of the Section 902 talks between the CNMI and U.S. government panels. The report would be sent to President Barack Obama, whose term would end in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been informed that it is also going to be circulated to members of the CNMI panel for a final round of review before it goes out. We\u2019re now waiting for that transmission,\u201d said Demapan, the House Federal and Foreign Relations Committee chair.<\/p>\n
Section 902 of the Covenant gives the CNMI a chance to meet with the federal government on issues and other topics that have a direct impact on their relationship. This year\u2019s talks were held twice in Washington, D.C., once in Hawaii, and once on Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concern for the Commonwealth is we are submitting the report at the end of a lameduck administration and just how much implementation can be done between December and the incoming administration on Jan. 20,\u201d said Demapan, who is a member of the CNMI panel in the Section 902 talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really don\u2019t know at this point just how much we going to get out of this. But we took the opportunity to go through the process in an effort to amplify the concerns and issues that\u2019s besetting the Commonwealth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Demapan and other CNMI leaders are hopeful President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s incoming administration would address the concerns discussed in the 902 talks. \u201cWe hope after the transition at the White House, President-elect Trump\u2019s administration would continue to view the concerns of the CNMI very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said they are optimistic that the CNMI\u2019s issues would be addressed, with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres being one of those who supported Trump\u2019s presidential campaign. \u201cWe are hopeful because Gov. [Ralph DLG] Torres took an active role in the Trump campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point, [Torres] is meeting with other Republican governors as they submit their concerns to the transition team. So we\u2019re hopeful the Republican relationship and the GOP majority in the U.S. Congress would benefit the Commonwealth.\u201d Demapan said the Record of Decision signed by the U.S. military is the first step in the process for the Tinian divert airfield. \u201cIt is a very positive sign and this is the first step as we go along this process. The militarization in the CNMI was a big issue and I think it has been only in recent time that it has drawn mass participation from the community to speak up on their concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n He said it was rewarding to learn that the military has taken into account all the comments made and submitted by the CNMI leadership and its residents. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that they [military] would address the other proposals on the table in the same manner and take into account the concerns that we continuously raised.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t had the chance to be given the [ROD] but based on what was announced, I think it was a very good decision. It was really the position the CNMI took and consistently took to ensure the divert airfield would be on Tinian and not on its preferred alternative on Saipan.\u201d<\/p>\n The military\u2019s planned divert activities is accepted by the Tinian leadership as it promises to bring development to the island\u2019s sluggish economy, which worsened after Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino closed down early this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that although the ROD is there, there\u2019s still a lot of things to look at. There are still some concerns from the people of Tinian that their leadership is going to bring to the table as this process moves along,\u201d said Demapan.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the outset, I think it is a very good decision, a welcome news for the Commonwealth and certainly a welcome development for Tinian. And that will alleviate all the concerns that we had here in terms of commercial flights at the Saipan International Airport. So we\u2019re hoping that this decision would open more doors of opportunity for the people of Tinian.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) is concerned if ever there\u2019s still time to implement the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,200,67,14214],"class_list":["post-242729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-military","tag-people","tag-president-elect-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242729","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nFirst step<\/strong><\/p>\n