THE Commonwealth Ports Authority board of directors will convene today, Tuesday, July 9, to decide on CPA’s lease agreement with Rota Terminal & Transfer, which provides stevedoring services at Rota West Harbor.
CPA Board Chair Jose C. Ayuyu called for the special meeting, which starts at 10 a.m. in the CPA conference room at Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
The CPA board was supposed to vote on the termination of RT&T’s lease last month, but the meeting was canceled because, according to board member Thomas Villagomez, they accommodated a motion to delay action on the matter.
In a CPA Board Seaport Committee meeting last week, vice chair Antonio Cabrera said, “We are allowing a company [RT&T] to operate on our premises and conduct business without a business license. That is a liability for CPA and the board.”
Asked on Monday for comment, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said it’s up to the CPA board to decide. He said he expects the board to address the issue because “it is something that we cannot continue to take down the road.”
He said there was no equipment to unload even a vehicle on Rota, and “that’s the situation we are in so we need to fix it — we just need to fix it.”
Besides Ayuyu and Cabrera, the governor’s other appointees to the CPA board are Dolores Kiyoshi of Tinian and Steve Mesngon of Rota. The other members are appointees of former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres: Thomas Villagomez, Joseph Diaz and Ramon Tebuteb, whose terms will expire on Oct. 7, 2025.
