Taotao Tano president Gregorio T. Cruz Jr. has criticized the Senate’s decision to support the governor’s Executive Order 08-09, which raises CUC’s debt ceiling to $5 million.
It was Pangelinan, D-Saipan, who introduced Senate Resolution 16-21 on July 31 to endorse the governor’s executive order.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Sens. Paul A. Manglona, R-Rota, and Luis P. Crisostimo, D-Saipan.
Cruz noted that Article X, Section 3 of the Commonwealth Constitution states: “Public debt may not be authorized or incurred without the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members in each house of the Legislature.”
Section 4, he added, states that “public indebtedness, other than bonds or other obligations, may not be authorized for operating expenses of the commonwealth government or its political subdivisions.”
According to Pangelinan, “My decision to support the resolution approving the executive order…is not whether the cost of electricity will rise for the ratepayers…but more…on the cost of not having electricity at all.”
She added, “At this point, it is obvious there is no easy way out. My first thought is that it would be smarter to buy the generators outright from Caterpillar and have them installed” on Saipan.
“In normal circumstances, that would be most cost-effective,” the senator said.
However, she fears such an approach to the power crisis will require qualified people to operate and repair the generators — people who must have a ready source for parts in case they breakdown in the process.
“We should be thinking of buying the Caterpillar engines and work on finding good people to send them to the factory for training as part of the purchase agreement,” Pangelinan said.
Earlier CUC Executive Director Antonio S. Muna said “the problem has not been with the purchase of new generators” but with their maintenance.
