By Agnes M. Abrau
and Bernadette H. Horizon news staff

Readers have different views on the news. But as we trace back the events in 2006, many people would agree that three major stories highlighted this year, in chronological order—the power crisis in August, the jubilant relocation to the new capital in Melekeok on Oct. 1, and the ongoing Pacific Savings Bank fiasco. There were many other interesting events as well that continue even as the year brings to a close.
Here in our yearender report, we want you to look back at the year that was as we re-trace the events that unfolded each month, captured in print and in pictures by the Palau Horizon reportorial team.
Generally, not-so-good news filled the pages of the local papers but here’s hoping for a better 2007.
JANUARY
The month of January was full of contradictions. 2006 started with good news, with this paper’s banner story that went, “Waterline pipe repaired”. After three days of an on-and-off water schedule due to a leaking pipeline inside the concrete culvert of the newly reconstructed Airai Causeway, water supply in Koror has been fully restored. But a day after the New Year, Jan. 2, a fire hits the West Auto Shop. Firemen used a forklift to forcibly open the steel gate of the auto shop.
Several cars were destroyed during the blaze. Two weeks later, another fire strikes an office of Palau High School located at R. Mersai Building due to faulty electrical wiring.
This month also saw a new set of elected officials in Koror State, the country’s most populous state and former capital. Koror State Gov. Yositaka Adachi took his oath of office this month along with elected state legislators attended by national elected and traditional leaders held at Koror State Assembly Hall. Reports of a petition to oust Sen. Alfonso Diaz from his seat at the Senate also started circulating.
FEBRUARY
The first week of the month saw four members of Palau Public Utilities Corp. (PPUC) submitting their courtesy resignations in response to President Remengesau’s call to institute changes in the country’s only power distributor company.
On Feb. 6, two missing Japanese divers were found and rescued southwest of Angaur by a concerted effort of local police, tourist operators, divers and a Japanese rescue boat. The two male divers were missing for 24 hours.
A new political movement called Voices was formally launched on Feb. 4.
The party’s founders said they are crusaders for good governance and transparent leadership. The founders—Imelda Nakamura, Anne Klass and Marvin Ngirutang—also confirmed that they are behind the petition circulating to recall Sen. Diaz from office.
On Feb. 7, a three-day leadership meeting attended by members of the Executive Branch led by President Remengesau, Legislative Branch and traditional leaders were held at Ngarachamayong Cultural Center. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Senate did not sign the communique, which was created to set a direction for Palau’s priorities.
On Feb. 24, Ngchesar State held its installation ceremony for the
state’s elected officials led by its new governor, Gov. Duane Hideo along with 17 members of the 7th Ngchesar State Council.
MARCH
A team from Asian Development Bank visited Palau a one-week
country mission to the country. Palau got some $1.28 million grant from ADB.
The race to Airai State’s gubernatorial election was held on March 6.
New Airai Governor Victoria N. Kanai won over her closest rival,
Francis Toribiong by 18 votes, Peleliu Gov. exposed alleged irregularities of President Remengesau and his wife and two members of the president’s cabinet asking the Olbiil Era Kelulau to conduct an investigation. Remengesau countered Ngiraingas’ allegations, saying that they were motivated by the government’s refusal to endorse the proposed multi-million real estate Nautilus City project in Peleliu.
President Remengesau signed into law the changes for “no transfer” in the labor law. Four changes were inserted in the law which allows a foreign worker to eligible for another employment if his or her current employer has died and the employer’s legal successor agrees to retain his or her employment; the nonresident worker can also transfer is the employer sell the company; the foreign worker can also transfer if the company is dissolved, and the foreign worker’s employee is found guilty of a crime where the nonresident worker or his or her dependent is a victim.
Later this month, the president also signed a law banning the practice of bottom trawling. The law prohibits bottom trawling in territorial waters and exclusive economic zone in Palau.
On Mar. 23, the Peleliu Legislature voted to impeach Gov. Ngiraingas on the grounds of treason for alleged illegal spending of state funds and for claiming to act on behalf of Peleliu people when he accused the president, his wife and Ministers Elbuchel Sadang and Temmy Shmull of irregularities.
Also this month, five divers were charged with stealing underwater
artifacts from a shipwreck called Amatsu. The foreign divers immediately posted a surety bail. Charges range from damaging a
historical site or cultural property to grand larceny.
On Mar. 28, President Remengesau presented Palau’s environmental
initiative called Micronesian Challenge in an international conference in Brazil. Micronesian Challenge calls for at least 30 percent of the nearshore marine areas and 20 percent of the forest resources in each of Micronesia’s countries and territories to effective conservation by 2020. He later got some $6 million in pledges in support of the new environmental conservation program.
APRIL
A new Philippine-based airline, Asian Spirit, launched its maiden
flight from Davao City, a city located in southern Philippines to Koror on April 2. Airline executives arrived on Palau forging a growth of tourism and trade between the Philippines and Palau. A delegation of 61-member Palau officials, in turn, flew to Davao a few days later.
The petition for Sen. Alfonso Diaz’s recall was formally submitted to the Election Commission, April 3.
In mid-April, Controversial Gov. Ngiraingas was ousted from his seat.
He immediately filed a civil suit to stop the Peleliu State Legislature from removing him from office. Later, Palau Supreme Court issued an order to allow Ngiraingas to stay as governor pending the decision of permanent injunction case.
On Apr. 18, President Remengesau delivered his State of the Republic Address, where he reported that the country’s economy is “back on track” before senators and lawmakers at the old Senate Chamber in Koror.
On Apr. 22, environmental groups joined the international Earth Day celebration where they planted trees and held exhibits for
environmental awareness.
In late April, the Senate started grilling the five nominees for the Compact of Free Association Review Commission. On Apr. 26, Palau’s Ministry of Education hosted an Education Summit where nearly 500 attendees from here and overseas. A few days later, the MOE received $100,000 grant from UNESCO.
MAY
The Election Commission announced May 3 that the recall election
against Sen. Diaz was set June 28.
The country’s senior citizens were treated to their special day on May 5 with food and celebrations. Impeached Ngardmau Gov. J. Schwartz Tudong ran for re-election in Ngardmau but lost. Former Del. Akiko Sugiyama won the gubernatorial post.
Also on early May, PPUC asks government’s assistance to secure a $7 million loan to finance immediate overhaul and repair of its power plants and generators to avoid “sequential shutdown”.
A sea mishap occurred in the early morning of May 7 causing the death of a Palauan and a Filipino worker while another Filipino worker was still missing. Only one survivor, Rosalind Ngiraibab, survived the mishap. Police authorities, with Vice President and Justice Minister Elias Camsek Chin in command, conducted search and rescue operations.
They later ended the search for the missing worker.
In mid-May, seven members of the House of Delegates belonging to the minority bloc called for “House cleaning” within the HOD. Delegates Kalistus Ngirturong, Sabino Anastacio, Thomas Patris, Jonathan Isechal,
Lucio Ngiraiwet, Flavian Carlos and Mario Gulibert wrote to the HOD leaders to act on “certain dishonorable actions committed by certain members of the House” apparently referring to Del. Antonio Bells. Bells has been convicted twice. The delegates told House Speaker Augustine Mesebeluu, et al that House members should be probed first before an investigation would be made to other government officials.
On May 17, the Supreme Court ordered a “void of the resolution” of the Peleliu State Legislature impeaching Governor Ngiraingas, allowing him to stay in office.
Also this month, Rolling Waves Ltd, owner of the yacht Lionwind, paid $40,000 for shipwreck looting charges after the Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against them that stemmed from taking artifacts from some shipwrecks in Palau Lagoon.
Ngiwal Gov. Elmis Mesubed was removed from office after the Ngiwal
State Legislature passed a resolution declaring the office of governor vacant. This after the Supreme Court found Mesubed guilty of 106 counts criminal complaints ranging from conspiracy and Code of Ethics violations.
Ngatpang’s milkfish industry reported its aquaculture industry a
success. Some 30,000 pieces of two-month old milkfish or bangus were harvested starting late May of this year.
President Remengesau attended the 4th Japan-Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Japan along with 16 heads of states of Pacific Island Forum nations where a big package of assistance for the region as well as a “special partnership” was signed at the conclusion of the summit.
JUNE
Kayangel State has a new governor after former legislator Edwin Chiokai was elected governor in the state’s general election May 30.
The Olbiil Era Kelulau adopted the fishing agreement resolution between the government and foreign fishing companies operating in Palau. This after the lawmakers reached an agreement to approve the House Joint Resolution which allowed the agreement to stay in force until Dec. 31 of this year.
Vice President and Justice Minister Elias Camsek Chin explained that states have given their permission to allow fishing trips involving prisoners within their state waters responding to Ngarchelong Gov. Browny Salvador’s complaint against unauthorized fishing expeditions of inmates.
The M-Dock Landfill rehabilitation reached its second phase.
Rehabilitation works for the landfill includes improvement, if not elimination of smell, flies, rats, etc., improvement of its surroundings and life of the landfill itself.
Also in mid-June, President Remengesau submitted a $64.3 million budget for Fiscal Year 2007 to the OEK.
On June 28, President Remengesau attended the Oceania Summit held in Paris along with other heads of states of the region. After the summit he went to Saipan to grace the opening of the Micronesian Games 2006 in Saipan. He also visited Israel.
On June 28, three special elections were held: the recall election for Sen. Alfonso Diaz, the special election for gubernatorial election for Ngiwal and the run-off for the 12th legislative seat for Kayangel State.
JULY
Sen. Alfonso Diaz stayed as senator as the votes on his ouster did not gather enough votes.
The “no” to recall votes leads by 553 over the “yes” votes during the recall elections.
Another election was set to fill in the position left by former Ngiwal Governor Elmis Mesubed who was sent to jail for grand larceny.
Masasinge Arurang won by one vote over Elia Tulop. The result was
contested by Tulop but in the end Arurang was sworn in after the court junked his petition.
Two of the divers who were charged with theft of underwater artifacts were found guilty and were sent to jail.
The two foreign nationals, Matthew Young and Cameron James Avenell along with the other suspects were charged after removing objects from shipwrecks in Palau.
AUGUST
This month was a trying time for Palau as power crisis hit the nation.
August was the month when the whole nation begun experiencing 8-hour power outages which lasted for more than a month.
Power rationing in the whole island has to be instituted due to the breakdown of the engines at the Malakal Power Plant. The remaining working small engines at the power plant were not enough to cope with the electricity demand of the island.
As the country is literally left in the dark, the Executive Branch is at the same time at odds with the Legislature over a piece of
legislation that seeks a loan to upgrade the power generating system of the Palau Public Utilities Corporation.
Both public and private sectors were affected by the crisis, schools had to adjust their schedules to the time that there is electricity, while business establishments who cannot afford to buy generators have suffered losses.
The power crisis and its effect to the country, hogged the headlines for the entire month.
SEPTEMBER
Despite the power crisis, Palau was the center of an international
gathering as host of the first Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian for the second time visited Palau on Sept. 2. Along with President Remengesau Chen Shui-bian joined heads of states of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
These countries are the Pacific island nations which have formal
diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
The countries reiterated their support to Taiwan and as a result of the summit, cooperative projects were forged among the nations.
Palau was again in the limelight after it was reported in a newspaper in the Philippines that a barge containing “nuclear waste oil” from Palau had been detained by the Philippine authorities.
The president took exception to the news saying that there is no
nuclear substance from Palau, he also expressed disappointment towards the media in the Philippines for reporting misleading or untrue reports.
On top of the power crisis, the Senate tried to insert a provision in their version of the Fiscal Year 2007 proposed budget a proposal to increase taxes to provide revenues for the country.
The proposal was met by opposition because it will further hurt the private sector which is already reeling from losses due to the long hours of power interruptions.
In the end the proposal was dropped.
The high time of this month is that power supply returned to normal after the installation of the four-megawatt rented generators was completed.
OCTOBER
This month is very historic for Palau after years of preparations, the New Capitol is ready for occupancy.
All roads led to the capitol in Melekeok as the new seat of
government, to celebrate the “big move” and the 12th year Independence Day festivities was held there.
President Remengesau put it as “a fresh start”, with over 5,000 witness the celebration and the formal opening of the new seat of power.
The sprawling structure costs at least $50 million.
In 1996, then President Kuniwo Nakamura signed the National Capital Construction Act, establishing a three-phase plan to construct the capitol.
In July 2000, the contract signing and groundbreaking for the capitol commenced.
October was also a month when a budget was not passed on time and a continuing resolution had to be approved instead.
The continuing resolution continues funding for a program if a fiscal year ends without a new appropriation in place.
Again, the president and some members of the legislature failed to meet eye to eye on the budget.
Palau’s Micronesian Challenge also gained more ground with Pacific
Island Forum members supporting the initiative.
The Micronesian Challenge establishes protected areas with the aim of conserving as much as 30 percent of their terrestrial and marine areas by 2020.
NOVEMBER
Over 7,000 depositors were caught by surprise due to the closure of the Pacific Savings Bank.
On Nov. 7, the Financial Institution Commission closed down the bank, revoked its banking license and placed the bank into receivership.
It was closed down because it found the bank insolvent, the bank’s
liabilities exceeded the assets or it has failed to fully satisfy the demands on deposits.
The government tried to cushion the effect to the depositors as a piece of legislation was introduced to amend the FIC law.
The proposal puts in place the right for a liquidating receivership to be converted to a managing or operating receivership.
Investigation begun on the bank and the president called on a emergency leadership meeting to come up with options to return the depositors’ money.
The bank’s closure affected schools, state governments, individuals and establishments.
The word war between Remengesau and Gov. Jackson Ngiraingas heated up again after the president opposed the offer of the Malaysian firm to save the bank by claiming that it could raise $20 million for the depositors.
Ngiraingas is backing up the Malaysian firm, UK Investment Holdings.
The firm, however, has several conditions before it shells out $20
million.
The government suffered another setback after the Environment Quality Protection Board after it announced its decision to impose fines to the Ministry of Resources and Development $100,000 for its failure to maintain the waste water system in Koror.
The EQPB said it has given notices to the government to correct its problem.
DECEMBER
It’s a bleak Christmas for the 7,500 depositors of the defunct Pacific Savings Bank as the receiver is still determining the assets to pay the deposits.
The PSB receiver sought a $1.5 million loan from the National
Development Bank to pay deposits with accounts of up to $2,000.
The NDBP however disapproved the loan saying that it needed additional audited financial statements, collateral and other information necessary for the approval.
Former Taiwan Ambassador Clark Chen bade Palau goodbye after six years of service. Chen was very instrumental in the Taiwan’s project for
Palau.
Some had to spend their holidays in the hospital due to the rise in viral gastroenteritis.
The cases reached over 300, and the Ministry of Health has instituted preventive measures.
The outbreak affected both adults and children, patients have to be admitted to the hospital due to dehydration.
It was a sad Christmas too, as two deaths were reported on Dec. 25, one was a 21 year old man whose lifeless body was found floating. A 76 year old Japanese male drowned at the beach of Palau Pacific Resort.