EITHER they don’t attend sessions or they raise money through fund-raising to be able attend sessions on Rota and Tinian. These are the only options that Sens. Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, and Ramon S. Guerrerro, American-Reform-Saipan, would have if the Senate leadership would continue holding sessions on the two islands.
In an interview yesterday, Reyes and Guerrero complained about the Senate leadership’s decision to frequently hold sessions on the two islands. They said that unlike Rota and Tinian senators, Saipan senators don’t receive $5,000 allowance for traveling outside Saipan to attend sessions.
In a June 18 letter, the two senators appealed to Senate President Paul A. Manglona, R-Rota, to hold sessions on Saipan.
“We regret that this request is necessary (but) circumstances require us to make this request. We reiterate our willingness and commitment to work with our means. (But) unlike the majority with money to spare, the minority simply cannot afford it. Besides, Tinian and Rota senators are afforded the advantage of receiving $5,000 stipends for the sole purpose of attending Senate sessions (on) Saipan,” the two senators told Manglona.
But Manglona, in a June 18 letter to Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano, D-Tinian, said he offered to pay the plane tickets of the two senators for them to be able to attend the session on Tinian held two days ago.
Manglona said he made this offer after he was informed by Reyes that he and Guerrero would not be able to attend the session.
“To ensure that the interests and concerns of the people of Saipan are well-represented, I offered to pay for their airline tickets and even had the Senate sergeant-at-arms deliver two tickets to Senators Reyes and Guerrero,” Manglona said. But his offer was turned down by the two senators. They said they had no other choice but not to accept the Senate president’s offer “pending the outcome of the audit request on the use of all the members’ account including the leadership’s.”
Manglona said the minority senators may just be “playing politics” again. He said Guerrero recently requested the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication to make a letter for him and Sen. David M. Cing, D-Tinian, for an official trip to the Philippines to meet with officials of Citadel.
“If the senator said he does not have money to go to Tinian, how come he has money to go to the Philippines? He would spend more than $500 to go there but only $10 to attend a session on Tinian. I don’t think that they should go to the Philippines to attend a meeting on behalf of the committee when they can’t fly to Tinian to attend a session,” he said.
Reyes and Guerrero also said that it is a “waste of public funds” to conduct sessions on Rota and Tinian especially when there are not enough facilities to record the minutes of the session. They said that when sessions are held on Rota and Tinian, a double cassette recorder is usually used to record the session.
Reyes showed to media a copy of a journal from the April 26 Senate session on Rota. The journal which contained the transcription of the session had many words omitted as they were “inaudible.”
But Manglona said that it is the normal practice to bring sessions to Rota and Tinian three to four times a year.
“I don’t know why they have to complain about that. It is only fair to hold sessions on the two islands. And in fact, for this year, it was the first time that we held session on Tinian on June 18. We should stop playing politics. We should work on positive issues. We should progress rather than regress,” he said.
