They have their own generators for their electrical appliances, but due to the ever increasing price of gasoline, they are hoping that the government will finally erect Commonwealth Utilities Corp. power poles in their neighborhood.
“We have been bringing this up with government officials since 1993,” Ken Borja Jr. said, adding that all they got were election promises.
He said when they read the news about power poles being installed in Marpi, they couldn’t believe it.
“Why put power poles in the area where nobody lives when here we are enduring the lack of power for many years?” he asked.
He said they spend $10 worth of regular gasoline every day for their generator which they use only at night.
The Borjas have to two small children in the family.
Variety learned that the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation had appropriated funds for the installation of power poles on Egigi Road but reprogrammed them for other purposes.
Borja’s mother, Juana, said they have been residing in the area since 1983.
Ken Borja Jr., a facility attendant at Laulau Bay Golf Resort, said many politicians visit them whenever it’s an election year to promise power poles.
Of the five families in the area, only the Borjas live in the easternmost part of Egigi Road.
The four other families — the Castros, Babautas, Aguons and the Quitanos — do not reside on their properties.
Although a stretch of this road coming from Isa Drive has power poles, the eastern portion going to Talafofo has none.
Egigi Road’s 500-yard stretch is unpaved and dark at night, no different from the deserted trails in the jungles of Saipan, its residents said..
This dirt road is where a 16-year-old teenager walks every time his parents are not available to pick him up at the bus stop after school.
The bus stop is near Tun Goru Restaurant (formerly Esco’s Bakery) which is 1.3 miles away.
The freshman student of Kagman High School, who declined to be identified, said at the start of the school days, “I was really tired.”
“But now I’m kind of used to it,” he added.
The only thing that bothers him, he said, are motorists who “drive like crazy” on Talafofo Road, which is rarely patrolled by police officers.
