In an e-mail yesterday, Demapan said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial was the applicant for those federal funds.
A copy of an insular area application for federal funding provided to this reporter indicated that Fitial was the applicant while Commerce Secretary Michael Ada was the point of contact.
In a separate interview, Public School System federal program officer Tim Thornburgh said PSS will receive the $8.3 million on Sept. 16.
He said the funds will be used to fill the gap in the school system’s fiscal 2011 budget.
The people, Demapan said, deserve to know the facts. The administration wished to set the record straight — it was the one that applied for the fund, he added.
He said it was Ada who “expeditiously” submitted the application to the U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 2.
Demapan said because of the administration’s swift action U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan commended the CNMI government, and not just Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan and the Public School System.
On the day after President Obama signed into law on Aug. 12 the $26 billion jobs bill, which included $10 billion for school districts, PSS was already bound to receive the $8.3 million in education jobs fund.
Demapan said “nowhere in the…document or the email threads…will see any correspondence from the commonwealth’s delegate to the U.S. Congress.”
Demapan added, “It is paramount that the people know the truth…. Deservingly, the people should be afforded the clear and factual representation of the work of its local government leaders and the services of the local government offices. We should not allow the truth to be misconstrued by the delegate’s lip service to announce any and all funding opportunities he learns about, no matter where the labor to acquire such funding awards came from.”
