{"id":394077,"date":"2023-06-19T06:03:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T20:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=394077"},"modified":"2023-06-19T06:03:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T20:03:14","slug":"sablan-sees-shortfall-in-food-for-manamko-food-stamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/sablan-sees-shortfall-in-food-for-manamko-food-stamps\/","title":{"rendered":"Sablan sees shortfall in food for man\u2019amko, food stamps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mary Margaret \u201cMaggie\u201d Sablan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This early, the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs expects that there is going to be a shortfall in food for the man\u2019amko (senior citizens), and in food stamps next fiscal year, according to DCCA Secretary Mary Margaret \u201cMaggie\u201d Sablan on Friday.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the House Ways and Means Committee hearing for the proposed DCCA 2024 budget, Sablan disclosed that the numbers of man\u2019amko keep going up as many senior citizens are signing up for the Office on Aging program.<\/p>\n

She said DCCA is not just about community and cultural matters; it\u2019s also a welfare agency so they serve the community from birth to man\u2019amko.<\/p>\n

The office provides free, government-subsidized food and services to the man\u2019amko enrolled at the Office on Aging. Right now, DCCA already expects to see a shortfall in food subsidy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s going to be a big deal. We\u2019re trying to figure out how we\u2019re going to do it,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n

She said food stamp is going up because the government let go of a lot of employees who were funded by the American Rescue Plan Act money. The secretary said those employees qualify for food stamps, so DCCA is also going to have a shortfall in food stamps.<\/p>\n

Sablan said they are now figuring out where to they make adjustments to make sure that the food stamps go a long way.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we adjust the income poverty level? Or do we adjust the benefit level?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

At the start of the budget hearing, Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan) noted that majority of DCCA programs have federal funds.<\/p>\n

Yumul said this is possibly why the Palacios administration\u2019s proposed budget for DCCA cut the operation budget to allow the department to utilize more federal grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be updated as far as what the grants are allowed for, what is not allowed for. Should there be additional funds that we do find in the budget that we can address, then it will be up to the members to decide what will be allotted to DCCA,\u201d Yumul said.<\/p>\n

With respect to the Office of the DCCA secretary, Sablan said when the divisions are in dire need of anything, they come to her. She said with zero funding, she does not know how to help them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely have nothing. And I mean nothing. As in zero,\u201d said the secretary, referring to the administration\u2019s proposed zero budget for the secretary\u2019s operations or the \u201call others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan said these austerity measures are going to hurt mostly the poor people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that in the previous administration, there was an abundance of money [from American Rescue Plan Act]. And [now] I\u2019m hearing that\u2019s depleted. So where do we go from here?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

The secretary said she does not know whose bright idea it was to put civil service employees on 100% ARPA. \u201cWe went crazy trying to figure out how to meet the law in terms of retaining these people. You can\u2019t terminate Civil Service employees so we have to keep them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How are they going to keep them if there\u2019s no money, Sablan said, so they just started scrambling, looking into every federal account where they can put them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you know that\u2019s not right. We don\u2019t tailor positions to the applicant. The applicant has to qualify for the position,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said lawmakers can help DCCA fix all of that discrepancy now. She cited an example that they have an archaeologist in the Historic Preservation Office who is essential to the grant and was 100% ARPA funded.<\/p>\n

The secretary said if they couldn\u2019t hold the archaeologist, they will lose their Historic Preservation funds so they put him on a temporary grant.<\/p>\n

Sablan said they also need to be able to match these federal funds. \u201cThese are not free,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The secretary said they cannot serve the man\u2019amko if they don\u2019t have the vehicles to take them out. She said they were able to get vehicles but they\u2019re old and need repairs and maintenance.<\/p>\n

Sablan named four essential things they need to survive\u2014pay their power, fuel for the vehicles, pay for repairs and maintenance to fix what breaks down, and communications money or for cellphones.<\/p>\n

She said the bathroom at the Man\u2019amko Center needs fixing as it is leaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pathetic!\u201d Sablan said, adding that their federal funds cannot fix structure and renovate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo come down, visit us. Come down and use our bathroom. You\u2019ll see,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to have $1,000 here and there, but, man, zero. How to work with zero?\u201d S<\/p>\n

The secretary said she\u2019s very depressed coming to the committee budget hearing because she wants to cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause what am I defending? Zero!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said some of DCCA\u2019s programs have federal money, but they\u2019re earmarked.<\/p>\n

She said they cannot just apply for federal money and say they just need to do what they need to do. \u201cNo. You have to specify,\u201d the secretary said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said they are looking at upgrading, but it\u2019s hard to do that when the department is just trying to stay afloat.<\/p>\n

She said the Historic Preservation has a huge grant so they are going to do renovation.<\/p>\n

The secretary said she wants to renovate the Man\u2019amko Center with that money, but she cannot because there is a criteria to qualify and the Man\u2019amko Center does not qualify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This early, the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs expects that there is going to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":394079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-394077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394077","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=394077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}