There is no evidence that the collections department, the hospital manager or even the Public Health secretary have any idea how to run an effective health and medical organization. Recently, the hospital administrator blandly explained that blood shortages at CHC are principally the result of nonpayment. It’s like saying that the vendor shipment was late or that blood is comparable to bandage.
Clearly, radical improvements are needed at the hospital.
We’re all in this together
THE Department of Labor’s decision to implement a two-year umbrella permit comes late, but it is helpful to employees, employers — and government workers whose jobs depend on revenues collected from the private sector.
The devil, to be sure, is in the details, but administration officials did give this matter serious consideration before they rolled out the program.
Here, finally, is the CNMI government reaching out to foreign workers (non-voters) who are facing uncertainty. The umbrella permit does not require anyone to beg for anything — it is a benefit flatly delivered because the government believes it is the right thing to do. But some of the responses to Labor’s announcement are based on paranoia.
These are uncertain times. The global recession has slowed the economies of the world, impacting people in vast numbers with stunning job losses and no expectation of a timely reversal. Financial security is important. Without it, societies crumble. The key is developing a rational plan that takes into account the CNMI’s economic and labor requirements as well as the humanitarian aspects of what to do with the many people who have invested close to 20 years of their lives on these islands.
Immigration, to be sure, is a knotty problem, here and everywhere else. But if foreign workers, the business community, the government and local community groups can avoid driving a wedge between residents and nonresidents and instead work together to make the best of the federalization situation, then these islands can be more than equal to the challenges that lie ahead.
Hands off Marpi
THE Department of Public Land has reserved huge swathes of Marpi for homesteads, a pristine area previously dedicated to conservation and forests as well as for recreation, scenic enjoyment, history and monuments to the war dead. DPL’s mandate is to wisely manage the use of public lands, but the department seems to have lost sight of its mission. We are referring to DPL’s statement that legislators are usurping its constitutional authority when they introduced legislation to mark sections of Marpi for preservation.
What constitutional authority? The original public lands corporation was dissolved pursuant to the Constitution and its functions were taken over by the executive branch. Unhappy with the then-governor’s developmental plans, the Legislature “reconstituted” an autonomous public lands agency, MPLA, which was promptly abolished by the current administration and the 15th Legislature, citing the then-board members’ “excesses.”
DPL is the creation of the Legislature.
The department’s professed reverence for land, in any case, will be more believable if it shows an appreciation for maintaining large areas for posterity — for conservation and recreation. To blanket the entire island with homesteads is not the best use of public lands, particularly in the northern part of Saipan. All previous beautification efforts would be nullified, and residents and visitors would be forever deprived of the natural beauty now preserved in the Marpi area.
