SAIPAN Mayor David M. Apatang did not appreciate it when he was told that the $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for his office had already been spent.
“That’s when the battle began,” the mayor said in Chamorro during the official launching of the independent gubernatorial team of Lt. Gov. Arnold Indalecio Palacios and Apatang at their campaign headquarters in Garapan on Friday.
Apatang said the Saipan Mayor’s Office had not received its ARPA funds yet, but he was told that “somebody already ate it up.”
He added, “This is the kind of things that have been going on lately.”
The mayor said the ARPA money was supposed to purchase needed equipment so his office could continue providing services to the public and implementing its community projects.
“We wonder where that $1 million went — money that could have been used wisely to help our people,” he added.
Apatang at the same time thanked the House leadership for introducing a local bill to allocate funds for retiree bonuses, local stimulus and the expansion of premium payments, referring to House Bill 22-91, which Rep. Donald Manglona will introduce Wednesday, Jan. 12, and Rep. Tina Sablan’s House Joint Resolution 22-12, which endorses the issuance of a new local economic impact payment to provide direct and expedited financial relief to qualified CNMI households as well as the expansion of the eligibility for premium pay “bonuses” for essential workers.
As for the Arnold-Dave 2022 campaign headquarters, “Everyone is welcome here — someone will always be here to attend to you,” the mayor said.
From left, independent gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, his wife Wella, House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, former Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, his wife Josie, Rep. John Paul Sablan, Rep. Joel Camacho, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Palacios’s running mate, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Ray Crisostimo, and former Speaker Oscar M. Babauta at the AD 2022 campaign headquarters in Garapan on Friday.
