{"id":381942,"date":"2022-12-20T06:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T20:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=381942"},"modified":"2022-12-20T06:06:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T20:06:00","slug":"1-5m-to-2m-left-of-17m-boost-program-but-over-300m-collectively-requested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/1-5m-to-2m-left-of-17m-boost-program-but-over-300m-collectively-requested\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018$1.5M to $2M left of $17M BOOST Program, but over $300M collectively requested\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
This screengrab from the CNMI Legislature\u2019s video shows Bank of Saipan president John Arroyo testifying yesterday before the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee regarding the Torres administration’s BOOST Program. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bank of Saipan president John Arroyo disclosed yesterday that of the $17 million appropriated to the Torres administration\u2019s Building Optimism, Opportunity and Stability Together, or BOOST Program, there is only $1.5 million to $2 million left, but there are still thousands of BOOST applicants left.<\/p>\n

After Office of the Governor chief of staff William \u201cWil\u201d Castro completed his testimony yesterday, it was Arroyo\u2019s turn on the hot seat and he disclosed that the bulk of the $17 million appropriated to the BOOST Program has already been distributed to over 200 applicants.<\/p>\n

In response to a point raised by Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), Arroyo agreed that it is simply not possible to award all of the thousands of applicants who have collectively requested over $300 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that at some point in time, when the funds run dry, then I would get a notification from them saying okay, so these applications are declined, let\u2019s provide notification to these individuals that their application was denied,\u201d the BOS president said.<\/p>\n

He said notices of denial will be going out, but they\u2019re trying to figure out in what mechanisms would be economically feasible and effective.<\/p>\n

Arroyo also testified on Bank of Saipan\u2019s role as the BOOST administrator, how the bank got selected for that job, among other things.<\/p>\n

He said of the $17 million, the bank got 2%, or $340,000, for its banking services.<\/p>\n

Arroyo will resume his testimony today, Tuesday, at 10am.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stop BOOST checks\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Soon after Castro completed his testimony yesterday, Rep. Joel Camacho (Ind-Saipan) recommended to the Ways and Means Committee and the Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee of the House of Representatives to ask the review panel of the BOOST Program to put on hold any further releases of BOOST checks.<\/p>\n

After Castro was excused from the meeting yesterday, Camacho said he heard that the BOOST review panel released another batch of BOOST checks Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to put a stop to that,\u201d Camacho said, adding that it\u2019s not that he is against small businesses. He said there are many deserving small businesses that applied and have gotten a fraction of what they\u2019ve asked for. He said the amounts are very reasonable compared to some individuals that got over $100,000.<\/p>\n

Camacho said the transition of the new administration will be taking place in a few weeks and there are so many uncertainties, with even just a simple clear number of how much American Rescue Plan Act is left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot even get that information. That\u2019s straight information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Castro started his testimony Friday and resumed his testimony yesterday. He completed his testimony yesterday, but Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota) told him that the committees may call him again.<\/p>\n

A plethora of lacks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rep. Leila F. Staffler (D-Saipan) said the things that stand out to her is the general lack: \u201clack of transparency, lack of due diligence, lack of organization and SOPs, lack of planning, with so many last-minute decisions being communicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she has seen multiple conflicts of interests.<\/p>\n

Rep. Vicente Camacho (D-Saipan) said he was very disappointed with Castro, knowing that he is a Harvard graduate, a former Guam senator, and the current chief of staff for this administration, and that he (Camacho) can\u2019t believe that Castro can\u2019t recall anything within the past year.<\/p>\n

JGO chair Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) said what they have seen and heard since last Friday and this morning from Castro merely scratches the surface.<\/p>\n

Babauta said that, throughout his testimony, Castro kept repeating the governor has the final say. \u201cAnd I will quote: \u2018At the end of the day, the buck stops with him.\u2019 And he is held liable in his capacity as the chief executive and the only sole authority to expend these funds on behalf of the people,\u201d said Babauta, referring to Torres.<\/p>\n

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) said he has never seen a more biased grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know if you can call this really grant, gifts, or whatever you want to call it. Free money, cash grab may be better suited for it,\u201d Propst said.<\/p>\n

Manglona said he feels that they are further from the truth in the wake of Castro\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do here is better understand the BOOST Program, how it is administered, who\u2019s in charge of reviewing the applications, who approves these applications,\u201d Manglona said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bank of Saipan president John Arroyo disclosed yesterday that of the $17 million appropriated to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":381944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381942","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\/381942","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=381942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}