By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council is preparing for the questions of the Superior Court regarding the municipal ordinance it passed, according to council member Angel S. Hocog.
Hocog, who introduced Municipal Ordinance 9-01-2007 creating the Saipan Municipal Neighborhood Watch Task Force, told Variety on Tuesday, that the certified legal question challenging the legality of the ordinance has already been forwarded by the House of Representatives to the Superior Court.
The House is challenging the council’s authority to pass ordinances.
Hocog said they continue to monitor the Legislature’s move against the ordinance and are now preparing answers for the questions regarding the ordinance.
“The council is well prepared to answer them in court,” Hocog said.
The ordinance that was “passed” by the council on Feb. 15 is its way of “testing the water” regarding its disputed lawmaking authority.
Besides the CNMI’s bicameral Legislature, the legislative deligations on Saipan, Rota and Tinian can also pass laws affecting their islands only.
Some believe that the CNMI, which has numerous government agencies with overlapping functions, does not need another lawmaking body.
On Saipan, the municipal council has been known to adopt resolutions to commend or honor island residents and businesses.
Some lawmakers say abolishing the municipal councils will save the CNMI’s broke government $1 million a year.
The ordinance “passed” by the council also gives the mayor of Saipan certain duties, but the House said it is unclear whether the council has the authority to impose such duties.
A month after Mayor Juan B. Tudela signed the ordinance, Speaker Oscar M. Babauta, Covenant-Saipan, introduced a resolution authorizing House legal counsel Iant Catlett to bring a legal certified question to the court regarding the legality of the ordinance.