The CNMI now heads for at least a four-way gubernatorial race, after the fourth tandem of former governor Juan Nekai Babauta and former senator Juan Sablan Torres declared yesterday their candidacy for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. The two longtime Republicans are running as independents, weeks after the GOP thumbed down their request for a primary race. <\/p>\n
Babauta said after the November elections, he will go back to the Republican Party that he once led.<\/p>\n
In the presence of their families and supporters, Babauta and Torres officially declared their candidacy in their Gualo Rai headquarters at noon yesterday. <\/p>\n
Juan \u201cLiling\u201d Reyes is the chairman of the Committee to Elect Babauta and Torres.<\/p>\n
Babauta said it was an \u201cunfortunate decision\u201d on the part of the Republican Party to decide not to hold a primary race, knowing that he and Torres have been lifelong Republicans and that the public was not given an opportunity to make the choice of who they want to represent them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe erosion of public confidence I think is quite obvious that is going on. [Pieces of] legislation are being passed in the middle of the night. No committee report. No public hearings are held. They are being shoved down the throats of the people. That is just uncalled for,\u201d Babauta said.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the recent passing and enactment of a measure legalizing casino gaming on Saipan, along with other bills. Babauta said he does not support legalizing casino gaming on Saipan.<\/p>\n
Babauta and Torres decided to run as independents after the Republican Party said the GOP had already formally endorsed the candidacy of Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan) in September. Babauta described it as a \u201cpre-selection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivan Blanco, chairman of the GOP Central Committee\u2019s public relations team, said yesterday that \u201cas we live in a democratic society, any person or persons have their right to put forth their candidacy to the voters to decide upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is up to the voters to decide which party will lead the CNMI forward into the near future. As GOP, we know we have the capability through hard work to continue the upward economic trend for the CNMI,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune. <\/p>\n
Blanco said Babauta and Torres are registered Republicans \u201cand the GOP would like to reiterate that we welcome them always.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the independent Babauta-Torres ticket and the Republican team of Inos-Torres, two other teams are vying for the gubernatorial seat: Former speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider and Senate floor leader Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan) as independents, and former Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Edward \u201cTofila\u201d M. Deleon Guerrero and former representative Daniel \u201cDanny\u201d O. Quitugua of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
With at least four tickets vying for the top posts, the CNMI is headed for a gubernatorial runoff election if no team gets at least 50 percent plus one of the votes cast in the general elections.<\/p>\n
Reviving Retirement Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n Torres, also a former representative and former administrator of the NMI Retirement Fund, said if he and Babauta are given the chance, they would revive the now-defunct NMI Retirement Fund.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to bring back all those government employees into the system,\u201d he said. He added that he would like to emulate a Rhode Island pension system that was revived, adding that he is not ashamed to ask for help.<\/p>\n He said the Babauta-Torres team has a \u201cworking plan\u201d to restore the 25-percent cut in retirees\u2019 pension but it\u2019s not going to be an overnight problem-solving.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money is there. It\u2019s just that we have to apply it where it\u2019s mostly needed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Torres said he is \u201cvery enthusiastic\u201d to team up with Babauta in the November race.<\/p>\n He also said it is \u201cunfortunate\u201d that the political party that they were lifetime members of \u201crefused\u201d to accord the people the \u201copportunity to have a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think the people had enough of the problems we are encountering. We hope to give that opportunity to the people and make the choice so we can better our lives. Right now, I think people are crying because they are suffering. CUC [Commonwealth Utilities Cor.] has made these people suffer because of the horrendous rates they are assessing our people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Babauta, for his part, said private customers are essentially subsidizing CUC because the government has not been paying its utility bills. Babauta said he and Torres will address this \u201cinequity.\u201d<\/p>\n The former governor added that the CNMI could easily add $50 million to its annual revenue if only it properly enforces its tax laws.<\/p>\n On foreign workers<\/strong><\/p>\n Babauta and Torres said they want qualified and longtime foreign workers to remain in the CNMI. <\/p>\n They said a pathway to citizenship is a matter for the federal government to decide, adding that most longtime foreign workers they have talked to care more about their ability to continue to work legally in the CNMI rather than earn citizenship.<\/p>\n \u201cWe support legalized status for nonresident workers,\u201d Babauta said, adding that if it were for him, a CNMI-specific foreign worker program should continue and allow these workers to be able to easily go in and out of the CNMI.<\/p>\n At their announcement, they also presented a general outline of their priority issues including the economy, jobs, the Retirement Fund, healthcare costs, and the high cost of air transportation including between the CNMI and Guam.<\/p>\n \u201cMy running mate and I feel that the people of the CNMI are feeling very depressed at this time. We will work hard to lift the spirits of the people of the CNMI,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Babauta, a former CNMI resident representative to Washington, D.C. for 12 years, added that he and Torres will complement each other\u2019s expertise\u2014his broad public policy background working with the federal government and other local and state governments, while Torres\u2019 financial management background. Babauta also served as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and served as a senator from 1986 to 1990.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we complement each other\u2019s background. I think that we\u2019re going to be a strong team in that respect,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The CNMI now heads for at least a four-way gubernatorial race, after the fourth tandem…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,49,141,67],"class_list":["post-31823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-cuc","tag-gop","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31823","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}