THE 17th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council amended its rules in 2023 to allow its members to receive a $500 monthly allowance.
Marian DLG Tudela, Antonia M. Tudela and Carmen C. Pangelinan are the incumbent council members.
“The 17th council is the first council that ever had an allowance for each member,” Pangelinan told Variety on Tuesday.
“I want to make that clear. The allowance should only come out from our local budget or local appropriation for operational costs. I discontinued my allowance … because I found out that the money was coming from the American Rescue Plan Act funds which are not in the council’s spending plan,” she said.
Pangelinan said she did not know that the allowance was being funded by ARPA.
“I didn’t know until I started looking into the matter, and that’s when I stopped [receiving the allowance]. I emailed the secretary of Finance, and she stated that she was concerned. I believe that’s the time when the ARPA funds were put on hold. We passed the resolution [to change our rules] in February 2023 and we started receiving the allowance in May 2023.”
“It’s not right for me. I’m the only one that discontinued the monthly allowance of $500,” she added.
Pangelinan said whenever council members meet, “we get $30 for the first half hour, and $60 for a full day — that’s part of our compensation.”
“If I have to pay it back, I will pay back the difference,” Pangelinan added, referring to the $500 allowance.
She also acknowledged the hard work of the council’s administrative staff for keeping the council “going.”
The council’s administrative staff declined to comment regarding the monthly allowance received by the council members.
Variety also failed to get a comment from the council’s chairwoman, Marian DLG Tudela.
Council resolution No. 17SNIMC02, adopted on Feb. 15, 2023, states:
“A member of the 17th Third Senatorial District Municipal Council may specify and use a portion of funds available under the 17th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council as an allowance in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars each month based upon a written request by the member to and approved by the council chairwoman for costs incurred for reason of attending to 17th council business and official activities on Saipan, Gani, Tinian, and Rota, the expenses of which are not limited to above activities and to defray cost of food, lodging and other related expenses as elected public officials thereof.”
Variety also learned earlier that the council failed to comply with CNMI procurement regulations when it entered into a contract for a short-term vehicle rental for three vehicles issued to the council members.
Pangelinan said she returned the vehicle assigned to her on Sept. 20, 2023.
Based on the CNMI government’s Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriation Act, the Saipan council has five employees and a budget of $135,170. Of this amount, $133,832 is allotted for personnel and $1,338 is allocated for operations.
