Friday\u2019s youth workforce-related conference turned into an arena for local politicians, including three gubernatorial candidates\u2014Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, and Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider\u2014to throw punches at each other.<\/p>\n
Tension filled the Hyatt Regency Hotel Saipan\u2019s Sandcastle Room Friday morning after a 16-year old Youth Congress member, Marianas Baptist Academy student Roselle D. Calvo, stood up and questioned Babauta on his pronouncement that the state of the CNMI \u201cis still pretty darn good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Governor, in your State of the Commonwealth Address, you described the state of our economy as being \u2018still pretty darn good\u2019 but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the reality. I don\u2019t think the economy is doing good,\u201d said Calvo.<\/p>\n
When asked by the governor to explain, Calvo cited a number of reasons: gas prices going up, the fuel surcharge fee, new water rates, the pullout of Japan Airlines, and downsizing within the garment industry.<\/p>\n
The governor pointed out that the high gas prices, which resulted in the implementation of the fuel surcharge, the garment industry\u2019s downsizing, and JAL\u2019s pullout are all beyond the CNMI\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
The governor also clarified that what he actually said in his SOCA was that \u201cthe state of our Commonwealth is still pretty darn good\u201d\u2014not \u201cthe state of the economy.\u201d He said the state of Commonwealth includes all aspects of the CNMI society, not just its economy.<\/p>\n
Fitial took issue with this, essentially saying that the state of the economy reflects the state of the Commonwealth. He also took exception to the governor\u2019s suggestion that the garment industry takes more than what it gives the local community, saying the garment industry was instrumental in making services in the CNMI cheaper.<\/p>\n
He said that insurance companies benefited from the industry and shipping costs to the CNMI became more affordable because the industry makes regular bulk shipments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all gains that we\u2019ve enjoyed because of the garment industry,\u201d said Fitial.<\/p>\n
Senate minority leader Pete P. Reyes, a critic of the governor, fully agreed with Calvo\u2019s observation that the economy is not doing good and also cited the benefits brought by the garment industry.<\/p>\n
Hofschneider, meantime, said that losing one industry would be bearable if there is an alternative. In the case of the CNMI, he said there is no such alternative. He said the shrinking garment industry means less revenues and less funding for scholarships, less jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s not pretty darn good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lt. Governor Diego T. Benavente spoke in defense of the governor, saying that the CNMI, when compared with other areas in the Pacific, \u201cis doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Calvo, she said, \u201cI think it\u2019s deceiving people when you say it\u2019s good when it\u2019s not. As far as I know, last year was better than this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youth Congress member Ybeth Mafnas, 17, said that \u201cin general, the state of the Commonwealth should be doing better because people are still working.\u201d But she said that, \u201cit\u2019s getting to the point where it\u2019s getting limited and people are getting stressed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mafnas and other Youth Congress members, including Calvo, Donald Manglona, 17, and Martin Quitugua, 18, said they felt that the heated discussions among the political leaders was \u201ca great time\u201d to know the candidates better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great that politicians came. It\u2019s interesting to see and hear them because they have different views on issues,\u201d said Mafnas, an MBA student.<\/p>\n
The youths said there was a particular tension among the three gubernatorial candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would interrupt when one is speaking to say their piece. There was really tension,\u201d said Calvo, daughter of Mary Ann Calvo, the chief of staff at the office of Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo.<\/p>\n
Manglona, a student from Rota High School, said that, after hearing the discussions, he now understands more the issue on the fuel surcharge.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad already explained this to me, so I know what\u2019s going on. Now, I understand it\u2019s a reasonable decision to keep the fuel surcharge,\u201d said Manglona, son of CUC Rota resident director Charles Manglona.<\/p>\n
Quitugua, of Rota High School, said that more forums of the same nature should be held to give the youth opportunities to get to know their local leaders and understand issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think politicians are getting a kick out of it. They\u2019ve probably realized that the youths are not as ignorant as they assume,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said listening to different people speak on issues \u201cis one of the best ways in making decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good that we\u2019re not limited to just one person talking about an issue. For instance, after hearing the discussions, some of the kids here said that maybe the fuel surcharge is necessary after all. By hearing all those different opinions, you develop your own point of view. That\u2019s the best way to make a decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s forum was the last of the two-day conference sponsored by the CNMI Workforce Investment Agency and the CNMI Youth Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday\u2019s youth workforce-related conference turned into an arena for local politicians, including three gubernatorial candidates\u2014Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, and Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider\u2014to throw punches at each other.<\/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-92503","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\/92503","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=92503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}