“Mt. Tapochao is one of the tourist attractions on island so you can expect a lot of visitors there every day. Without railings, somebody might fall over the cliff,” the source said.
The place was also littered with all kinds of trash, he added.
Joe Kaipat of the Division of Environmental Quality said he has received several calls reporting the presence of trash in the area.
“We will go up there as soon as we can and check on it,” Kaipat said.
Although DEQ spearheads cleanup activities all over the island regularly, picking up trash is not their direct responsibility.
“We will check if the reported trash was left by the hundreds of people who went up to Mt. Tapochao in April on Good Friday or by recent picnickers,” Kaipat said.
He urged residents to pick up their trash and not leave it anywhere.
“The island thrives on tourism. The government spends thousands of dollars in promoting the CNMI as a clean and safe place. We print brochures and fliers to distribute to tourists so they will come here, but when they come and they see unpleasant sights like trash, how can we convince tourists to keep coming back?” Kaipat said.
They have called on other agencies such as the Saipan mayor’s office, the Department of Public Works, the Marianas Visitors Authority to help fix the broken railings, Kaipat added.
Variety learned that MVA has been receiving reports about the broken railings for the past two months and is working to come up with funds to repair them.
