By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial understand the people’s frustration but is also appealing to them to realize the necessity of the government’s cost-cutting measures.
Fitial is set to deliver his second State of the Commonwealth Address on Friday.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr., in an e-mail, said the governor told his cabinet members that the CNMI “must endure some pain and difficulty to recover economically. He said he had to endure much pain in dealing with his spinal stenosis, both before and after the surgery, but the pain was necessary to heal and get better.”
Reyes added: “He understands their frustration but believes he is doing what is in the long-term best interests of the CNMI, for the greater good.”
Several residents have been holding street protests on Saipan to dramatize their disappointment with the administration’s inability to revive the CNMI’s ailing economy, and opposition to the paycut law and the decision to double the power rates.
This month, the administration said it was considering the imposition of a three-month unpaid leave in light of the government’s steadily declining revenue collections.
Reyes said the cash-strapped government cannot continue spending beyond its means.
“We have to wean our government off its addiction to deficit spending, and this is difficult and hard to understand, given the government’s past spending practices, but it is necessary to put our government back on a sound financial footing again,” he said.
As for the death threat reportedly made by a woman, Reyes said the governor has forgiven her.
“The governor said he wanted her to be checked to see whether she is disturbed. The governor is very forgiving,” he said.