The CNMI is still in a pandemic and the whole world is still basically on lockdown. <\/p>\n
That appears simple enough to understand, according to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who said he does not understand why some Democratic representatives are concerned about his year-long state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
Speaking at a radio news briefing last Friday, Torres said he wants to say \u201cas politely as he can\u201d that he does these monthly declarations because the CNMI is still in a pandemic and he believes that everyone in the CNMI understands that \u201cwe\u2019re still in pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless things changed yesterday or last week, we still don\u2019t have tourism coming in. The whole world is still basically on lockdown,\u201d he pointed out in response to Rep. Sheila Babauta\u2019s (D-Saipan) concern about the yearlong state of emergency.<\/p>\n
The governor said that, although there\u2019s some movements with tourism, the CNMI is still in a pandemic. He said this state of emergency allows Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig to do what he needs to do to work with governor\u2019s authorized representative Patrick Guerrero to work with the COVID-19 Task Force to make sure that people in the CNMI continue to be safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this since January, February [in 2020]. It is the reason why we\u2019re safe,\u201d said Torres, adding that he does not understand Babauta\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n
Torres reiterated his appeal to the Legislature to come up instead with revenue-generating bills to help address unemployment. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can they do as a Legislature to help with the unemployment? Come up with creative approach. How can they help farmers? How can they help fishers\u201d The ranchers?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Torres said he will continue to do what he needs to do to protect the community 100% against COVID-19. \u201cSo again we need to move forward. And I hope that they can exhaust their time and their effort in bringing back normalcy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As for Rep. Tina Sablan\u2019s (D-Saipan) concern about the constitutionality of the emergency declaration, Torres again referred back to the statement that the CNMI is in a pandemic. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen any of this pandemic in our life before. What\u2019s their concern? What constitutionality?\u201d Torres asked. <\/p>\n
The governor said his executive orders and the approaches that they\u2019ve been doing in protect the Commonwealth since Day 1 are guided by Attorney General Edward Manibusan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere were they when this pandemic started and we were giving our undivided attention and decision to protecting 100% of our people here?\u201d he asked. <\/p>\n
The governor said the 100% effort that they made back in January 2020 in coming up with decisions came from experts that were brought in through the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. He said CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a has been there, along with COVID-19 Task Force chief Warren Villagomez, governor\u2019s authorized representative Patrick Guerrero, and Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did everything we can so we continue to do what we need to do to protect our Commonwealth,\u201d said Torres as he appealed to lawmakers to exhaust their energies in coming up with new ideas to protect and help the community. \u201cThat\u2019s where I stand and I\u2019ll continue to do what I need to do to safeguard our community,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The CNMI is still in a pandemic and the whole world is still basically on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":340247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343423","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}