All the eight senators voted to approve the committee report recommending the confirmation of the nominations of Mendiola and Kim.
Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, Ind.-Saipan, is on medical leave.
Mendiola and Kim disagree about the legalization of casinos on Saipan.
Kim during the public hearing for his nomination two weeks ago said a casino on Saipan would help bring in more tourists to CNMI.
But in an interview after his confirmation, Mendiola said “we don’t need another casino.”
He said one casino, Tinian Dynasty Casino and Hotel, is enough.
Mendiola recalled that the casino had yet to be built when he was mayor there. There was a lot of excitement about the promises of tourism on Tinian at the time when voters there legalized casino gaming.
But now, almost two decades later, “it is very disappointing” that Tinian’s tourist arrivals remain low.
Mendiola said when Tinian Dynasty opened in 1998, “there was no follow up to bring people” to the island.
Now that he’s on MVA’s board, Mendiola said he is going to address this problem.
“I’m going to find out why is it that Tinian, Rota and Saipan have not gotten as many tourists that Guam hosts. The main question here is why?”
Mendiola believes the CNMI has more of the things that Guam has.
“We have to trace what happened. And why the airlines are pulling out instead of coming here,” he said.
For his part, Kim said he will use his 25 years of experience in the tourism and airline industries to help revive CNMI tourism.
