By Emmanuel T. Erediano
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
REACTING to the statement of Sen. Manny Gregory Tenorio Castro on Tuesday, Rep. Vincent Aldan said, “No one is asking the Senate to be a rubber stamp, but the people are asking the Senate to be accountable.”
In a statement, Castro, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation & Communications, earlier responded to criticisms of Senate review of legislation, including bills authored by Aldan seeking independent audits of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Castro said the Senate is not a rubber stamp, but is instead fulfilling its constitutional duty to carefully review bills.
On Wednesday, Castro was assisting CNMI residents at the multi-purpose center in Susupe with ownership and occupancy verification for their recovery assistance applications with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said he would reply to Aldan’s statement once he had finished assisting residents.
In a separate statement Wednesday, Aldan, who chairs the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation & Communications, said the senator is correct that the Senate is a co-equal branch with a duty to carefully review legislation.
However, Aldan said Castro’s Tuesday statement does not address the House member’s question: “Why have several ratepayer-protection and utility-accountability bills been held without clear reasons, written findings, a date certain for action, or published committee amendments?”
Aldan said due diligence is not obstruction when it is active, transparent, and documented. But when legislation sits without explanation, timelines, or public accounting of concerns, the public has a right to question the delay.
He listed the following “flaws” in Castro’s statement:
• It responds to an argument that was not made. Aldan said the issue is not whether the Senate must automatically approve House-passed bills, but whether bills can be held indefinitely without specific legal, fiscal, or policy explanations. Saying the Senate is “not a rubber stamp,” he said, is a slogan, not an answer.
• It provides no specific reason for stalled bills. Aldan said a proper committee response should identify whether concerns involve constitutional issues, conflicts with existing law, fiscal impacts, agency objections, or needed amendments. He said Castro’s statement does not address those points.
• It asserts “careful review” without evidence of review. Aldan said careful review should produce hearings, testimony, written agency comments, legal analysis, committee reports, proposed amendments, or a schedule for action. Without these, he said, the claim lacks transparency.
• It shifts focus from ratepayers to institutional defense. Aldan said the issue is not Senate pride but the burden on ratepayers dealing with billing issues, arrears, fuel adjustment costs, procurement concerns, audits, reliability, and financial management.
Aldan agreed with Castro’s statement that no House member can dictate Senate procedure, but said the point is “evasive.”
“Yes, no House member can dictate Senate procedure, but every elected official, ratepayer, business owner, and citizen has the right to ask why a bill is not moving,” Aldan said. “Oversight applies both ways. The Senate can review House bills, and the public can review Senate inaction.”
He said references to “rushed,” “bullied,” and “social media attacks” avoid the substance of the issue.
“Public criticism is not bullying. Asking for reasons, timelines, and accountability is not an attack. It is democracy. If the Senate has real concerns, it should state them clearly instead of framing legitimate public pressure as political intimidation,” Aldan said.
Aldan said Castro’s claim that “careful review is not delay” is only true up to a point.
“Careful review becomes delay when there is no written explanation, no amendment language, no hearing schedule, no committee report, no vote, and no date certain for action,” he said.
Aldan also accused Castro of ignoring the urgency of ongoing Commonwealth Utilities Corp. issues.
“CUC’s problems are not theoretical. Ratepayers are facing real issues involving billing, arrears, fuel adjustment costs, procurement concerns, audits, reliability, and financial management. The longer reform bills sit, the longer the public remains exposed,” he said.
On Friday, Castro’s Senate committee met with CUC officials to discuss pending bills referred to the committee, including measures introduced by Aldan, who also provided testimony.
Emmanuel “Arnold” Erediano has a bachelor of science degree in Journalism. He started his career as police beat reporter. Loves to cook. Eats death threats for breakfast.
