WHY is Lt. Gov. Arnold Palacios continuing to hide the truth about his health from the voters of the CNMI? After losing to Gov. Ralph Torres in last week’s election, Mr. Palacios is again asking for your vote in the upcoming runoff election. Incredibly, he is running on the slogan, “Rebuilding Trust.” Perhaps he should look in a mirror first and ask himself why voters should trust him when he continues to deceive them about a number of things, including the important issue of his health. Voters deserve to know if he is truly healthy and has the stamina and endurance to execute the duties of the office he seeks.
We all know that Mr. Palacios was evacuated to Hawaii in June of this year. He then spent two weeks in the intensive care unit before being discharged to outpatient care. In total, Mr. Palacios was off-island under medical care for more than 40 days. While he was away, he wasn’t doing any work for the Commonwealth. This was three months ago.
Mr. Palacios’ emergency evacuation was ordered and organized by Governor Torres and involved the Department of Defense and a specialized military aircraft. Mr. Palacios should be thankful that Governor Torres has cultivated a relationship with the area’s top military officials and moved quickly to provide a life-saving evacuation. At the time, CHCC CEO Esther Muna said that Mr. Palacios was evacuated because he needed “a high level of care that is not available here in the CNMI or Guam.”
When Mr. Palacios returned to island he could have been honest and told voters what is really going on with his health, but instead he chose to evade the truth or outright lie repeatedly over the next months. Most everyone has heard that he had a heart attack.
Even if voters believe such lies that his long hospitalization in the ICU was due to back pain, it still raises significant issues. Mr. Palacios was hospitalized for over 40 days because, according to him, he sat on a “very uncomfortable” chair. The work of the Governor is exhausting and requires stamina and vigor. How can the people of the CNMI expect Mr. Palacios to represent the CNMI in meetings that might take place in Washington, D.C., other parts of the continental United States, or in foreign countries? Representing the CNMI is a crucial part of the job of the Governor, but those trips require long travel that Mr. Palacios simply cannot do given his admitted history of “back problems.”
We are early in a global conflict or war, Poland was struck by Russia, we are a primary target in the Eastern Theater, the U.S. just scrambled fighters to the Marianas, our most trusted friends are trying to topple the U.S. dollar, so please, for the sake of our children here, STOP the lies and tell the voters what really happened. Before you ask for our vote, we call on you to release medical records related to your stay in the ICU and to definitively state that you did not have a cardiac incident so that we can know if you are fit enough to serve as Governor and have the decency to tell the truth. We deserve to know the truth and we deserve to know your true health condition.
RON HODGES
Retired teacher and registered voter
Saipan, CNMI
