In a letter to Rota Legislative Delegation chairman Sen. Juan M. Ayuyu, commission chairwoman Laura Maria I. Manglona said “Rota’s economic situation will continue to be scarred with bandages” if the local bill becomes law.
She urged Ayuyu to “please weigh the unintended consequences of reigniting this issue,” adding that the senator has in his power “to help us heal once and for all, to emerge as a stronger community, ready to embrace the economics of tourism opportunities that can help our new economic gaming industry in Rota.”
The local bill is pending in the Saipan delegation which is expected to pass it
The Senate, which is dominated by Rota and Tinian, earlier threatened to take the Saipan delegation to court if it passed the local bill which senators said was unconstitutional.
“Honorable senator, you are the only person in the community that can prevent this divisive debate,” Manglona told Ayuyu. “We ask…that you consider creative alternatives for the commonwealth economic plan that we could all embrace.”
She noted that for the past five years prior to passage of the Rota Casino Act of 2007, Rota residents had similar debates over the casino industry.
The Rota Casino Act of 2007 was passed through an initiative ratified by the people of Rota, she said.
Manglona said the Saipan casino proposal, in contrast, was rejected by the island’s voters.
She described H.L.B. 17-44 as a piece of “short cut legislation that seems to bypass the will and consent of the residents of Saipan and the Northern Islands.”
She asked Ayuyu to “protect” Rota’s casino industry and “the future economic responsibility of Rota.”
