Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, in an interview yesterday, said he is trying to figure out how to allocate their available resources to carry on their responsibilities.
“We don’t have that much staff and there’s not much fund available to operate,” he said. “And yet we’re tasked to regulate banks, insurance companies, all the alcohol and tobacco licenses and all the foreign investments.”
Ada said there was “no mess in the department he had to deal with” when he succeeded James Santos, who has been indicted on federal corruption charges.
“It was more of trying to reallocate our resources so that we can effectively handle a lot of the issues involving the department,” he said.
He wants the department to focus on statistics and enforcement.
“Statistics can give us a good idea of how the economy is faring and they are also required when writing grant proposals,” he said.
“As a department, obviously we need to move forward. We wish former Secretary Santos the best — we’re saddened by his situation, but [his case] has nothing to do with his time in the department,” he said.
