{"id":35847,"date":"2014-05-16T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=35847"},"modified":"2014-05-16T07:00:07","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T21:00:07","slug":"bermudes-run-saipan-senator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/bermudes-run-saipan-senator\/","title":{"rendered":"Bermudes to run for Saipan senator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Educator and advocate Illuminanda \u201cLumi\u201d Reyes Bermudes officially announced her decision yesterday to run as an independent Saipan senatorial candidate this November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a need to instill trust in government leadership that is focused on public service\u2014and not in politics,\u201d Bermudes said.<\/p>\n

She spoke strongly about how everyone deserves to be afforded with opportunities to succeed. \u201cI will be the voice of the voiceless,\u201d she promised.<\/p>\n

Her desire to run for elected office is reflected by her passion and commitment to public service. She brings with her more than 15 years of experience. On those years, she served as former special assistant for the Office of Youth Affairs and technical assistant for the Office of the Governor\u2019s Special Assistant for Administration.<\/p>\n

\"Bermudes\"<\/a>
Bermudes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She is also the former chairperson of the CNMI Board of Parole, and has over 10 years of volunteer work for various youth organizations.<\/p>\n

Currently, she is the program director of the Chamorro, Carolinian and Heritage Studies Program of the Public School System.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that my experience as a public servant in serving our children has cemented that commitment in making a difference,\u201d Bermudes said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Bermudes\u2019 entry into the Saipan Senate race pits her with four other candidates. She claims, however, that her proven experience and advocacy sets her apart from her opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A]lthough we have differences in beliefs, opinions, and ideas, what we need is for us to recognize that the best decisions are made by a consensus. And that is the missing link of what we see and experience today,\u201d Bermudes said.<\/p>\n

Her re-entry into the political fray, after narrowly losing during her first run in the 2012 last general elections, is buoyed by her unchanging focus and commitment toward the government\u2019s need to invest in human capital and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman capital and development must be tied to education and training. We have a progressive public education but the support is not there. While we have statutes, initiatives and policies in place, we just do not see the balance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my islands, my people and I strongly believe in what we can make of it. We have potentials that we need to take advantage,\u201d said Lumi, as she is fondly called. She is known for being work oriented and focused.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cEveryone who know me or even of me, know that I am a doer. \u00a0I don\u2019t wait for things to happen, I find ways to make it happen.\u201d (PR)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Educator and advocate Illuminanda \u201cLumi\u201d Reyes Bermudes officially announced her decision yesterday to run as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":35848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[37,67,41,133],"class_list":["post-35847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-education-2","tag-people","tag-public-school-system","tag-run"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35847","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=35847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}