{"id":379266,"date":"2022-11-09T06:06:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=379266"},"modified":"2022-11-09T06:06:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T20:06:53","slug":"kilili-grateful-and-humbled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/kilili-grateful-and-humbled\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilili: Grateful and humbled"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) and his wife, Andrea, smile and walk hand in hand to vote at the Precinct 3 Garapan Elementary School poll site yesterday morning. (LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), who is running unopposed for his eighth term, feels both \u201cgrateful and humbled\u201d and is already lining up a to-do list for his next term in the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

Sablan, who voted yesterday with his wife, Andrea, at the Garapan Elementary School polling site in Garapan, said this is his third time to run without opposition. \u201c[I\u2019m] preparing already for the next Congress\u2014things that are important and what we need to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked what his priorities are in his new term, he said, \u201cOne thing that has eluded me since I first got in is to get some kind of permanent residency to many of those who have been here working with us\u2026improving our community, and of course, helping our economy. I\u2019d like for these people to receive [permanent residency]. \u2026Many of these people have children born here and some of these children are our best and brightest and I want to keep them here\u2014and if mom and dad are here, maybe they\u2019ll consider making this their home.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said that the new eligibility for the Nutrition Assistance Program was \u201cour work that started a long time ago. It\u2019s progressing little by little. \u2026While I prefer [the federal] SNAP for all its good reasons, NAP has developed a design to accommodate some of the niches and quirks we have here, like certain amounts can be used for local purchase. I was so happy that the EBT program is progressing, so hopefully by this time next year, those receiving benefits won\u2019t have to line up with their car\u2026and they\u2019ll get a monthly allotment through their cards,\u201d similar to how Guam does it.<\/p>\n

When asked if he has any plans to retire after his eight term, Sablan replied: \u201cI\u2019m running for now. This is an election; every two years is different. \u2026A politician who is incumbent to a position is presumed that that person is going to run for reelection unless he or she announces that he or she is not. It\u2019s a long answer but that\u2019s the best right now that I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the possibility of a runoff election, he said, \u201cI think there may be a runoff, although I think each candidate will tell you today, \u2018No, there will be no runoff,\u2019 but I think so.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his support for gubernatorial candidate\u00a0Rep. Christina \u201cTina\u201d Sablan (D-Saipan) and Rep. Leila Haveia F. Staffler (D-Saipan), Sablan said,\u00a0\u201cPersonally, I think they’re the best choice we have right now for our governor of the Commonwealth. \u2026They\u2019re smart. They have a platform. They actually have a vision saying, \u2018Here are things that we want to do, what we want to get done.\u2019 So people have a choice. \u2026It\u2019s the people that decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added in a later interview, \u201cOur government is only as good as the choice of the people, but it\u2019s a choice that we need to respect. I\u2019m hopeful that Tina and Leila will make it and also the Democratic candidates. Of course, there are also good candidates in other organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2008, Sablan became CNMI\u2019s first elected delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

He announced in October last year that he is seeking his eighth term as the CNMI\u2019s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives under the NMI Democratic Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP), who is running unopposed for his eighth term, feels…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":379267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379266","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}