SENATOR Ricardo S. Atalig says he was insulted by the remarks of Senate Minority Leader Peter P. Reyes regarding the passage of the tobacco settlement money legislation.
“They know that I made the effort to pass the measure, but some Senate members including (Reyes), requested to defer the action,” Atalig, R-Rota and chairman of the Health, Education and Welfare Committee, said.
He said he tried his best to have Rep. Gloria DLC. Cabrera’s H.B. 13-134 passed by the Senate.
But he said some Senate members “wanted to be given more time to digest it.”
“I tried for three times to have it passed,” Atalig said. “So I don’t think that it’s fair for a member of the minority bloc to say that we in the leadership are just interested in holding on to our positions,” he added, reacting to Reyes’s earlier comments.
Reyes earlier said the Senate leaders “were too busy holding on to their positions” and thus failed to pass important measures on time. He said he was referring to senators who hold more than one committee chairmanships.
Atalig also chairs the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development and Programs before he relinquished it to Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero, American Reform-Saipan, recently.
According to Atalig, Sen. Thomas P. Villagomez, R-Saipan, decided to call the June 29 session on Rota, where the bill was finally passed, because the senators from the island were there hosting the football players from Saipan.
Atalig has this to say to Reyes: “He did not only want to digest the bill, he also wants to digest the Legislature. He’s an all-knowing lawmaker who will always find a way to nitpick.”
Asked for comment, Reyes said Atalig “needs more insults as this could help straighten him out and make him more accountable as a public official.”
