“I am very disappointed that there are so many leaders up there but they can’t seem to sit down and figure a great plan not just for the Liberation Day budget but for the other many issues that the community is experiencing,” he said.
Last week, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial vetoed a Saipan local bill that would have allotted $45,000 for the 2010 Liberation Day activities, citing lack of funds.
“I wish I can run for a political position so I can be a voice and not the voiceless,” said Barcinas, an educator and school administrator.
He said the Liberation Day Committee is frustrated but continues to work with Saipan Mayor Donald G. Flores to make the event a success for the entire community.
The committee has yet to pay vendors for the preparation of the Liberation activity center at the Garapan Fishing Base that included the construction of booths.
Barcinas said the commonwealth doesn’t need “many leaders who are like ghost employees — playing golf during working time and traveling for no reason.”
“I figured that the best government to have is one with a unicameral legislature,” he added.
He urged leaders of the commonwealth to put aside their personal and political differences and “stop acting like elementary school students and be productive in their job.”
Barcinas said the leaders were elected by the people and should do their job for the public, adding that the community is suffering and they need to think and plan together for a “better solution” to the CNMI’s problems.
The Liberation Day Committee is a nonprofit volunteer group ignored by Capital Hill, he added.
Barcinas said he, too, is a public servant, as a school principal taking care of 1,100 students and 90 staff members.
“I still manage to run the operation effectively and efficiently without bringing politics to the campus. We do our job because we know why we are on campus. This is the model that our leaders should be doing,” he added.
He noted that no one among the CNMI’s leaders have even visited his school, Hopwood Junior High.
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