WHERE is the $2 million Compact Impact funds earlier earmarked by Gov. Juan N. Babauta for Tinian High School’s use?
While Tinian lawmakers said that the money had already been deposited in the account of the Public School System for the school’s use, Board of Education Chairman Herman T. Guerrero says otherwise.
“The money is not with PSS. We have no record showing that the money has been transferred to our account. No letter from the governor has been communicated to the commission that it has been transferred to us,” said Guerrero in an interview Friday.
Senate Vice President Jose M. Dela Cruz, D-Tinian, and Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano, D-Tinian, last week said the fund had been deposited in PSS’s account for the school’s use.
But even if it were deposited to PSS, Guerrero said the agency will still not be able to touch the money as they do not have the expenditure authority to do so.
“The governor has the expenditure authority over the funds. If he wants to delegate the expenditure authority for the fund to somebody else, he has to put it in writing. But since he has not done that, we don’t have the authority to touch the fund,” he said.
Guerrero said the money could still be with the Department of Finance.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, in another interview, said he was not aware of the status of the fund.
But Babauta did commit the $2 million for the completion of the school, Benavente said. “If it’s not there yet, then it’s on its way to PSS or where ever the money is supposed to go to,” he said.
Benavente said that while the administration “respects” the wishes of the Saipan legislative delegation on where the money should go, the executive branch’s priorities should also be respected.
“It’s always been in the past that the Legislature had its own priorities and the administration had its own priorities. In this case, what we are doing is fulfilling our commitment to putting resources in education. And certainly, the incomplete classrooms in Tinian High School is a serious problem that needs to be addressed,” Benavente said.
The Saipan delegation recently adopted two resolutions on the use of the funds. The first one was a request for Babauta to justify his decision to give the money to Tinian. The second was on the decision to put present and future Compact Impact funds to PSS and the Departments of Public Health and Public Safety.
