“There is no doubt that it has just been a very tough year. Unfortunately, the House, the Senate and the administration could not work together as they would have liked to do,” said Manglona, who was first elected to the Senate in 1987, making him the longest serving CNMI lawmaker in history.
He said working against each other did not help prevent the revenue from further declining which resulted in diminishing government resources “and that is why our people have been suffering for the whole year.”
Manglona said the most difficult moment of the year was when they had to tell government employees that “we need to take away 20 percent of their paycheck.”
“That is the most difficult decision that we have to make,” he added.
He is hoping for a “new beginning” next year by having a better working relationship with the House of Representatives and the administration.
“That is my hope so that the Legislature can speak with one voice and can act as a unified body. Only then can we begin trying to work on economic issues and reduce the pain out there in the community,” he said.
According to Manglona, CNMI leaders “must stop the bickering, stop the politics and make the sacrifices to do what is right.”
Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said “all we can do is to keep moving forward with whatever resources we have as we continue to ask the people for patience while addressing problems that are foreseen and those that are unforeseen.”
He said the administration is doing its best to solve these problems.
He noted, however, that the high price of fuel is dictated by external factors and the islands’ remote location.
The commonwealth, he added, can no longer enjoy the luxuries it was used to in the past.
Elsewhere in the U.S., he added, budgets are getting cut and people are getting laid off.
Demapan, however, expressed optimism “that we are on our way to some kind of recovery.”
House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, said he doesn’t see “anything different [in 2011] from what we are experiencing right now.”
“Nothing is coming out,” he said except for the military buildup on Guam which will take a while.
Something needs to be done, he added.
He said he will once again call for an economic summit so that the administration and the Legislature can sit down, reevaluate priorities and hopefully start reducing the size of the government.
“We need to do that in a way that does not create too much hardship,” he said.
Benavente recalled that in 1997 when the economy was at its peak, the fiscal year budget reached $240 million.
“Now we are struggling to make $132 million.”
He added, “If nothing changes and if we don’t have any plans for 2011, then I guess it will be like 2010. There will be more struggles,” he said.
Rep. Joseph M. Palacios, R-Saipan and chairman of House Committee on Natural Resources, said 2010 is the worst year in CNMI history.
“Why? Because of the 64-hour work schedule, the high power rates and the payless paydays,” he said.
He has been talking to a lot of people who are very unhappy, and they make him feel that the only thing to be thankful for is that “we are still alive.”
He also noted that the number of domestic violence cases seems to be increasing. He said couples are quarreling over their families’ money situation.
“For 2011, I hope that we, as members of the Legislature, would work together and end these payless paydays,” he said.
