TINIAN Independent senatorial candidate Thomasa Palacios Mendiola said she’s not just running for office but also giving the people of Tinian “a better choice.”
In an interview on Sunday, Mendiola, the former chair of the Tinian and Aguiguan Municipal Council, was the last to submit her senatorial candidacy before the deadline.
She said she decided to run at the last minute when she saw that no one else was stepping up against the incumbent Republican senators — Jude U. Hofschneider and Francisco Q. Cruz — even though “there were cries from the people of Tinian that they want change.”
“I had to do it for the people,” Mendiola said. “Knowing the truth, I had to do something. I am giving the people a choice. I am here, I have no filter, I am uncensored and I have no hidden agenda. I am only here for the people to make sure that Tinian gets what they deserve.”
Mendiola is on the independent slate of gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang.
Mendiola said she was endorsed by Tinian Republicans when she won a municipal council seat in 2018 and 2020.
She said the Republican Tinian leadership “knows that I know the truth” and the “frustration because this governor was not helping Tinian at all.”
She said it is “only now” in an election year that infrastructure projects on Tinian are coming out. “I know the truth why these projects are happening only now. And what certainty do we have that these are going to continue?” she asked.
Mendiola said Palacios, as secretary of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, House speaker, Senate president and now as the lt. governor, has “brought a lot of assistance to Tinian and he never ceased assisting Tinian and Rota. The help for Tinian and Rota has always been there.”
Mendiola said the people of Tinian have been getting “secondhand” information especially when it comes to funding issues because only their elected leaders can always travel to Saipan.
She said the people on Tinian “tend to believe our leaders, so if our leaders are lying to us, feeding the people with lies, they tend to believe the lies….”
But Mendiola said she will not “stand in front of the public and lie.”
Tinian independent senatorial candidate Thomasa P. Mendiola, second left, standing, pose for a photo with former Tinian Mayors James Mendiola, seated left, and Patrick San Nicolas, seated second right, Precinct 1 House candidate Vincent “Kobre” Aldan, left, and supporters during the AD 2022 campaign rally at Minatchom Atdao on Sunday.
