THE Commonwealth Utilities Corporation said it held off a scheduled disconnection of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation’s power and water supply following a breakthrough in negotiations that took place early Thursday evening.
CUC was set to disconnect CHCC at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 4, but both parties reached an agreement around 7:15 p.m.
“Both sides have been diligently negotiating for the past two weeks, and progress was made this evening,” CUC acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje said in a statement.
CUC said CHCC owed $53.6 million as of March 31 for electric, water, wastewater charges and late fees.
“CUC was able to reach this breakthrough with the support of CUC Board Chairwoman Janice Marie A. Tenorio,” Terlaje said. “Chairwoman Tenorio acknowledges that agencies such as CHCC are critical to the health and safety of the Commonwealth, but reiterates that there must be accountability. She believes that this breakthrough holds all parties accountable.”
No details about the agreement between CUC and CHCC were available as of Thursday evening.
‘Please don’t disconnect CHCC’
In an interview around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, acting Gov. David M. Apatang said he asked Tenorio “to please don’t disconnect” CHCC.
The power and water services of the island’s only hospital were scheduled to be disconnected on Thursday, May 4 based on the disconnection notice issued by then-acting CUC Executive Director Dallas M. Peavey Jr.
On Thursday, Tenorio and CHCC Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna met with Apatang at the governor’s office “to resolve the matter.”
In an interview after the meeting, Apatang said CUC and CHCC were “trying to come up with an agreement.”
“I was asking CUC to please not disconnect the hospital today,” Apatang added.
His concern, he said, are the patients, and “all the people in the hospital who are going to suffer.”
Apatang said they just cannot risk people’s lives, “and that is the reason we met three times this week trying to iron things out.”
He told CUC that CHCC is expecting funds from the central government for the Medicaid reimbursement program.
“We are still trying to have some funding for CHCC, so they can manage to make a payment to CUC,” he added.
As of March 31, 2023, the CNMI government owed CUC $66.37 million.
In his fiscal year 2024 budget submission to the Legislature, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said: “Our meager resources are insufficient to fully fund government utilities; however, $1.8 million is provided in this budget as an assurance of the government’s commitment to pay for its utilities consumption.”
Muna told Variety that “nothing” was “certain” as of Thursday, but Apatang said it was determined that “we need to come up with an understanding, set up an agreement then, and make sure that they follow the agreement.”
He said perhaps they can identify areas “where we can cut funding and make some payments to CUC…at least $259,000 or something like that, every month.”
Apatang noted that Tenorio had expressed concern about the federal mandate to collect from CUC’s delinquent customers, the largest of which is the CNMI government.
Apatang said he asked the CUC board “if they can write a letter to the federal judge and explain that the Commonwealth has been through super typhoons and Covid-19 and we have not recovered yet.”
