But new attempts to illegally enter Guam are keeping the controversy alive — as does the governor’s refusal to issue any kind of regret or apology.
Governor, the NMC students are right. You have to set an example. You are the leader of this commonwealth. You have to be responsible and accountable. What you did was wrong. Even your AG said he would have advised you not to do it. You, of all people, must abide by the rules. You must cooperate with the ongoing federal investigation and apologize to the people of the CNMI.
Preventing crime
OVER the years there have been a few attempts at foot patrols but none of it was sustained. There is also a koban in the heart of the Garapan district that was intended to support foot and bicycle patrols in the area. The initiative seemed to work for a while but was discontinued, supposedly due to lack of funding.
Foot and bicycle patrols are encouraged in many jurisdictions because they promote interaction between the community and police officers. Moreover, police presence discourages criminal conduct, ensuring prevention rather than intervention. If this is the DPS commissioner’s first order of business then he is on the right track, but there remains the business of restoring confidence within the department and in the villages where safety concerns are at their highest. The number of burglaries, robberies, assaults and batteries is on the rise along with the stresses that result in other desperate actions.
Residents who are organizing a neighborhood watch task force should be commended and encouraged. This group needs to expand into all the villages, which means that more concerned citizens should join or assist the task force. There will be a drastic reduction in the crime rate if only more members of the general public are providing DPS with vital information. Indeed, the only way to deter criminals is to show them that they can never get away with their crimes.
About the Retirement Fund
AS huge lawsuits loom that could affect the survival of the Retirement Fund, the government appears to be doing little, if anything, to pay even its obligations to the pension agency, giving the court little choice but to compel payment.
Nonpayment forces parties to restructure the current payment method, which is exactly what the governor asked for. The Superior Court has directed a sale of assets, which is precisely what the Retirement Fund wanted. But the assets are worth very little right now. Selling them would result in a one-time lump sum payment while still leaving a mountain of unpaid debt.
What the Superior Court should do to forestall more serious intervention is to require the CNMI government to pay a specific sum of money each month. This will force the government to take its receipts and its expenditures a little more seriously and probably even limit hiring to all but the most essential positions.
But the Fund seems to be of little concern to the administration, which is more worried about the government’s resources that it may have to give up to pay the agency. There is also a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the NMI, urging for a federal receivership, but if that happens all bets are off and anything is possible, including the Fund’s dissolution.
It doesn’t have to go that way. There are thousands of individuals and families relying on the Fund for their very survival. If the pension system comes unglued as it is threatening to do under the weight of the financial burden caused by the nonpayment of government contributions, the entire economy, or what’s left of it, could collapse. The impact on the community is huge, but now that the elections are over, no one on Capital Hill seems to care.
