By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Republican Party’s Precinct 1 Club has not included a former lawmaker and a proven top voter-getter on its slate of House candidates because he failed to submit his bio-data.
Former Rep. Dave M. Apatang will not be among the six GOP candidates in Precinct 1, Variety learned, and this could trigger another rift among Republicans who have been squabbling since the party, for the first time, decided not to hold a gubernatorial primary in the 2005 elections.
Former Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, who bolted the GOP to run with Apatang on an Independent ticket, may not join the Republican Precinct 3 ticket to protest the exclusion of his former running mate.
Party officials who support the two say they may also leave the GOP.
It was Hofschneider and Apatang who won in Precinct 1 in the 2005 elections, garnering the largest number voters on Saipan. They lost, CNMI-wide, by only 99 votes to the Covenant ticket of Fitial-Villagomez.
The GOP’s House slate in Precinct 1 will also not include Rep. Martin B. Ada, who has aligned himself with the Covenant leadership in the House.
Former Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, who was formerly from Precinct 2, now a Covenant strong-hold, will be on the party’s Precinct 1 slate.
“Heinz and Dave re-joined the party for the sake of unity and to ensure victory in the next elections, but now they have junked Dave again because of another technicality — so why should voters trust us again to run their government when we can’t even get our act together as a party?” said a Republican lawmaker, who declined to be identified.
Precinct club 1 chairwoman Ana S. Teregeyo yesterday said nine submitted letters of intent to run in the precinct.
She said Apatang and Ada were among the three who did not make the final list that was submitted to the GOP board of directors for endorsement.
Teregeyo, a former House floor leader, did not name the third aspirant, but added that the individual will be the alternate in case any of the six selected candidates back out.
She said they repeatedly e-mailed and telephoned the aspirants to remind them of the requirements.
Apatang, she said, submitted his letter of intent way ahead of the deadline but failed to submit his bio-data.
She said she called him three times just to remind him, but he still failed to submit it.
Teregeyo said no one is exempted from submitting bio-data.
She said Apatang could have been one of the six candidates for Precinct 1, but “he did not comply with the requirement.”
Ada, she said, also failed to submit his bio-data and other information required by the precinct club.
She said the incumbent lawmaker seems to be no longer interested in complying with the requirements.
“I want the party to win, and there’s so many things that are at stake and we need to correct things and bring the people’s confidence back,” Teregeyo said.