By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

FOR a businesswoman, a private sector employee and a housewife, the reduction of working hours, the drop in tourist arrivals and the increase in power rates were the three bad news stories of 2006.
Misako Kamata, owner of Kinpanchi Restaurant, said the continued decline in the number of tourists visiting the islands and the doubling of the utility rates have adversely affected her the most.
Kamata, who has been running her business here for many years, said she used to have many customers, most of whom were tourists.
She said business continues to be slow since Japan Airlines withdrew from the CNMI in Oct. 2005.
Other businesses are also suffering, she added.
The already crippled business activities in Garapan worsened when utility rates were increased by 100 percent, Kamata said.
Her wish for 2007 she said, is to see the Garapan tourism district, particularly the Paseo de Marianas, “very much alive again,” but she wants it to have a new image — to be a family-oriented shopping area and recreational park.
“I believe that 2007 will be a better year for the Paseo de Marianas and the rest of the business community on island,” she said.
Rose Aldan, a beauty consultant in Garapan, complained of the high electricity rates.
She said the doubling of the utility rate has affected her and other ordinary citizens the most.
According to Aldan, she used to pay a power bill that ranged from $60 to $70. During those times, she said, she was still able to buy her daughter new clothes almost every month.
When the utility rate was doubled, her monthly bill shot up to over $200.
Since then, Aldan says she hardly ever buys her daughter new clothes.
Her hope for 2007, she said, is that there will be no increases in the utility rate.
A housewife, who declined to be identified, said the reduction of working hours caused a direct and huge impact on the lives of her family members.
It was the worst news for workers in 2006, she added.
She said her husband’s 72 working hours bi-monthly were reduced to 58 hours, adding that they are now unable to cope with the continuously increasing cost of living in the CNMI.
She expressed the hope that the work-hour reduction measures in the public and private sectors will be lifted this year.