Never mind that it was family day\u2014and her birthday to boot. Vicky Villagomez had a job to do and she was there to do it.<\/p>\n
After all, no less than President George W. Bush granted her birthday wish this year by declaring the Northern Mariana Islands a major disaster area based on a request that Villagomez\u2014as the governor\u2019s authorized representative\u2014and her team were instrumental in preparing.<\/p>\n
Issued on the Friday following Supertyphoon Chaba\u2019s onslaught, the presidential declaration rendered all typhoon victims eligible for almost all types of disaster assistance.<\/p>\n
It was a relief not only for the victims, but also for Villagomez, who she has been held in suspense from the time the request was submitted. The day before Bush made the declaration, Villagomez was near tears out of compassion for the people that were affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were there sitting and waiting, knowing that so many people were impacted. We didn\u2019t know if we were going to get the declaration or not. During [Supertyphoon] Pongsona, we got a reply within 48 hours. But this time, it took 96 hours,\u201d she related.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great birthday gift. I\u2019m just glad that we\u2019re getting help for all the typhoon victims,\u201d said Villagomez, who spent her birthday working. \u201cMy family has made plans for my birthday, but they understand that I\u2019ve got a job to do. They are all very supportive of work. They know how important my job is,\u201d said the wife of Sen. Thomas \u201cKiyu\u201d Villagomez.<\/p>\n
A graduate of Mount Carmel High School, Villagomez went on to finish an associate degree in accounting at Lassen Community College in California. She also attended Golden Gate University for a year, before she started her family. She has five children and two grandchildren.<\/p>\n
Prior to holding positions in the government in 1989, Villagomez worked in the private sector for eight years. She worked with Duty Free Shoppers Ltd. after retiring with Continental Air Micronesia.<\/p>\n
Former Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio first appointed her as the governor\u2019s authorized representative during Typhoons Keith and Paka, and since held the position with Gov. Juan N. Babauta for Typhoon Chata\u2019an, Supertyphoon Pongsona, Tingting, and now Chaba.<\/p>\n
According to Villagomez, the latest supertyphoon to hit the islands was by far the most challenging. Although Pongsona was the strongest in terms of intensity, its fury was concentrated on Rota alone. Chaba, however, caused destruction to all the main islands and impacted a large number of people everywhere.<\/p>\n
Thanks to her patience and wit, among other qualities, Villagomez was able to cope with the demands of her job and the huge responsibility placed on her shoulder. \u201cAll you need is common sense, logic, and tact. You have to be quick to think outside the box, and make the decision that will benefit everyone involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Never mind that it was family day\u2014and her birthday to boot. Vicky Villagomez had a job to do and she was there to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83780","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}