THE government will reduce the number of CNMI delegates to the 21st Annual Pacific Islands Environment Conference in Palau next week to keep up with the administration’s austerity measures.
Tom Tebuteb, the governor’s special assistant for administration, said there is “technically nothing wrong” to send 33 delegates to the conference, but the government prefers a small contingent “to save money.”
“It’s a federally funded (activity). But we’re cutting it in half. We don’t want any appearance of impropriety,” Tebuteb said.
He said the Division of Environmental Quality, the Coastal Resources Management, the Department of Public Works, among other agencies, are trimming the number of its representatives.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente said he is not leading the delegation as reported by Variety but is going there on his own.
“I’m not leading a delegation of 33. I was so surprised to read the article. I guess as the lt. governor, I’m probably the highest ranking official to go on that trip. I’m going there on my own. I’m not even going to be there during the whole conference,” Benavente said.
He said he wants to attend the conference to learn more about the solid waste situation in the region.
“I am going because I want to attend the solid waste panel discussion which I chair. It is also a very critical matter at this time that we face,” Benavente said.
Tebuteb and Benavente said the Legislature and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will decide how many of their staff should be sent to the conference.
However, they are encouraging CUC and the Legislature to send fewer number of delegates in light of the government’s cash-strapped condition.
“When I first heard that CUC was going to send 10 people, (I thought that was too many). We don’t need that much,” Benavente said.
The conference will be held from June 24 to 28.
