Sen. Paul A. Manglona speaks as Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero and Senate Vice President Donald Manglona listen during a meeting with officials of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Star Marianas Air Inc. in CPA’s conference room on Wednesday afternoon.
SENATORS met with officials of Star Marianas Air Inc., the Commonwealth Ports Authority and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday to help resolve the issue regarding the transportation costs of CBP officers to Rota.
The meeting was held at 3 p.m. in CPA’s conference room.
Those who attended were CPA Executive Director Leo Tudela, Star Marianas Chair Robert F. Christian, Star Marianas General Manager Jose Cruz, USCBP CNMI Port Director Ferdinand Mallari and CBP Area Port Director George Minamishin, who attended via Zoom from Hawaii.
The meeting was called by Sen. Paul A. Manglona, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications. Joining him were Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, Senate Vice President Donald Manglona and Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider.
In an interview after the meeting, Sen. Paul A. Manglona said “an agreement was reached by all to continue meeting and discussing a permanent solution to the CBP issue until this matter is resolved.”
He said SMA “agreed to suspend their intention of not providing free transportation to CBP officials to Rota. They agreed to continue until Oct. 15, 2024, at which time we hope to have a satisfactory CBP agreement.”
Sen. Manglona said that if more time is needed, the CNMI government will be responsible for the transportation cost after Oct. 15.
Asked for comment, Christian said CPA and CBP “reached an agreement allowing STAR to continue providing flights between Rota and Guam.”
He said the meeting was positive, with government officials ‘indicating that steps are being taken to find a long-term solution for…CBP’s screening requirements. As long as…CPA and…CBP continue to provide the necessary infrastructure and personnel, STAR is pleased to continue operating as a common carrier between Rota and Guam.”
Sen. Manglona said “the long-term solution will involve the help of U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, with CBP, as well as our Section 902 team.”
“We are very confident that this matter will be addressed in the long term. We are grateful to CBP officials and Star Marianas for this short-term solution to move forward because we need to continue forward with our economic recovery on Rota as well as take care of those that need to get to Guam, especially for medical reasons,” Sen. Manglona said.
On Sept. 17, 2024, Christian informed CPA that SMA might cancel its Rota-Guam flight service pending clarification from CPA whether an arrangement had already been made for adequate staffing of CBP at Benjamin Taisacan Manglona International Airport on Rota.
Christian said that if no such arrangements had been made to meet CBP’s requirements, Star Marianas would be left with no choice but to notify both the U.S. Department of Transportation and their pre-booked passengers that, “due to circumstances beyond our control, flights between Rota and Guam may need to be canceled. This unfortunate outcome could have been avoided with adequate facilitation of CBP services by CPA.”
In his reply to Christian, Tudela said the transportation arrangement was between USCBP and SMA, adding that CPA was never a party to the arrangement.
