Department of Public Works acting Secretary Mike Borja and former Sen. Ray Yumul, center, pose for photo with DPW division heads and members of the transition team during a meeting in the DPW conference room in Chalan Laulau on Thursday.
DEPARTMENT of Public Works directors and engineers on Thursday met with the incoming Palacios-Apatang administration’s transition team to begin the changeover process despite the pending certification of election results by the Commonwealth Election Commission.
Led by former Sen. Ray Yumul, the transition team members assigned to DPW include Kimberly Acebo, Ruben Acebo, Felipe Atalig, Norbert Mendiola, Jose Terlaje and Zillah Wabol.
They met with the DPW division heads in the secretary’s conference room at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
DPW Secretary James Ada was on terminal leave, Variety learned.
Yumul personally thanked DPW Acting Secretary Mike Borja for meeting with the transition team and for providing office space.
Yumul also expressed his gratitude to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for allowing the transition team “to begin work on preparing a transition report ahead of CEC’s anticipated certification of the election results in good faith.”
Aside from Borja, the other DPW officials present in the meeting were Highway Administrator Lorraine Villagomez, Administrative Services Director Peter Camacho, Solid Waste Management Director Blas Mafnas, Technical Services Division representative George Sablan, building safety officer Isagani Salazar, highway engineer Henry Bautista and members of the DPW administrative staff.
Like DPW, the Commonwealth Economic Development Authority has been “accommodating” to the transition team.
Variety was told that other government agencies, such as the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the Marianas Visitors Authority and the Commonwealth Casino Commission, are waiting for the CEC to certify the election results before they begin the transition process.
