GOVERNOR Juan N. Babauta has appointed Northern Marianas College Chairman Fermin M. Atalig as commerce secretary.
The governor also named Emi Peter Palican as his special assistant for women’s affairs.
In nominating Atalig, Babauta fulfilled a campaign promise to include Rota in his Cabinet.
“I feel that he would make a very good secretary. I admire his excellent administrative skills and they are what that department needs,” Babauta said yesterday.
Babauta will submit the nomination papers of Atalig to the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigation today.
Atalig has served in numerous government positions. He was the Civil Service Commission chairman before he became a member of the board of directors of the then Marianas Public Lands Corp. from 1989 to 1993.
He also served as Rota’s resident director for the Department of Public Health.
His stint as principal of Rota High School earned him a seat on the Board of Education from 1993 to 1997.
Babauta said Palican’s “active involvement” in the community and her extensive background in arts, culture and women issues, make her a “good candidate.”
“She is a very active person. She has a lot of experience dealing with the community at large,” Babauta said.
Variety also learned that the administration’s special assistant for Micronesian Affairs, Fermin Meriang, was named by the governor as board member of the Humanities Council.
