The commission, Tenorio said, administers casino gambling on Tinian but there’s nothing in the Revised Tinian Gaming Casino Act that says it is autonomous.
Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, was reacting to gaming commission acting chairman Ignacio K. Quichocho’s statement that the commission chairman and not the Tinian mayor is the expenditure authority of its funds.
Tenorio said it is the Tinian delegation that appropriates the funds and the mayor’s office is supposed to spend it. The commission has no power at all, he added.
Moreover, the commission is not autonomous because the commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the island’s delegation, the former governor added.
Tenorio said it is not like the Board of Education whose members are elected by the people, which makes it a truly autonomous agency.
Like the municipal government, the commission is not part of the commonwealth government and cannot be part of its retirement program, Tenorio added.
