House Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding Chairman Ralph N. Yumul and Vice Chairman Edwin Propst confer during a meeting on Thursday in the House chamber. Also in photo is House legal counsel, John Bradley.
Rep. Vicente Camacho speaks during a meeting of the House Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding, Thursday, in the House chamber.
THE House Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding will subpoena former Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig to answer questions pertaining to the Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together or BOOST program.
Committee members said an updated list provided by the Bank of Saipan indicates there are missing notices of awards for certain recipients who were connected to those administering the program.
A total of $17 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding was used for the BOOST program, which the Torres administration launched in Aug. 2022.
The House special panel will also summon Bank of Saipan President John Z. Arroyo and officials of the Commonwealth Zoning Office.
Atalig will be asked to explain the missing notices of awards for certain BOOST recipients.
Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, the special panel’s chairman, said a new list from BOS includes a significant number of recipients whose notices of awards are not in the bank’s possession.
Yumul said this means that someone from then-Governor Torres’ office picked up the checks.
Yumul said they asked BOS about it during an initial hearing in May, and Arroyo replied that those who pulled out those documents were “either Wil Castro or someone else in the governor’s office.”
Castro was Torres’ chief of staff and a member of the BOOST application review panel.
Among the BOOST recipients whose notices of award are missing are the Saipan Horse Course in Kagman, which was awarded $200,000; Sakura Group LLC, which received $150,000; and Love Birds Restaurant on Tinian, which received $125,000. The owner of these three businesses is Alexandria Jing, the business partner of then- Economic Development Director Jesus Taisague, who was also a member of the BOOST application review panel.
Jing’s Flower Tea House in Garapan, which also received $125,000 in BOOST money, is now closed.
There were 17 other BOOST recipients whose notices of awards were pulled out from the BOS files. These included the notice for Tinian Shipping Services LLC, which was awarded $200,000.
To find out what happened to those notices of award, Yumul said they will “request pertinent information from the agencies involved.”
“We will [also] ask David [Atalig] to verify, if we ever get to him,” Yumul added.
He said the special panel will also subpoena zoning office officials because, on Sept. 18, 2023, “a nephew of a former Rota senator managed to pull out the zoning permits of Alexandria Jing’s businesses from the zoning office.”
Unanswered questions
Yumul said during the initial BOOST investigation last year, Atalig was unable to testify.
“We are here [again because] there are still many unanswered questions,” Yumul added.
House Floor Leader Edwin Propst, who is the vice chairman of the special panel, said they will now “move forward” with their investigation “since the budget is passed and there will be no more delay.”
He said the panel now has “to look in the past to move forward in the future.”
He said it is not only about BOOST. It is only one component of what they are looking into, and that involves “$1.9 billion of funding — a lot of us are still wondering where did it all go.”
He said they will go “through everything we have received from the federal government.”
Propst said they have “uncovered,” so far, that “there are businesses that received funding but never opened and there are those who received money and closed down their business. We are going to look actively on those, working with [the Department of] Finance so that money that will be recovered goes back directly to the taxpayers, to help our people.”
Rep. Vicente Camacho, for his part, said: “We hope that we can hold individuals and companies accountable for their involvement in the mismanagement of federal funds in the BOOST program.”
He also hopes that the special committee will help federal authorities expedite their investigative efforts.
Rep. Marissa Flores said she really “feels bad for our people,” and hopes that the panel will be able to “provide justice” to the CNMI people.
Rep. Vincent “Kobre” Aldan urged members of the community to come forward and expose those who “pillaged” public funds. He said some people may not speak because “they’re family.” But “what place in the world would allow family members to do corrupting and call it okay? Whatever happened to our elders’ lessons? Are we going to excuse certain individuals because they are family?” he asked.
Rep. Diego Vincent F. Camacho said that there were many legitimate business owners who applied for BOOST but “did not see a dime” while a few who were “connected” received up to three awards.
