WITH the opening of their campaign headquarters on Beach Road in Garapan, the independent gubernatorial team of Lt. Gov. Arnold Indalecio Palacios and his running mate, Saipan Mayor David Mundo Apatang, officially launched their campaign on Friday.
Joining their slate are Rep. Joel Camacho of Precinct 4, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao and House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul of Precinct 3 and Rep. John Paul Sablan of Precinct 2.
Keith Ada will run with JP Sablan in Precinct 2 while Malcolm Omar (not Romolor as earlier reported) will run with Camacho in Precinct 4.
The names of the other independent candidates for the House and the Senate will be announced next month, Variety was told.
Also attending the lunch ceremony on Friday were former Attorney General and Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas, former Tinian representative to the Board of Education Philip Mendiola-Long and former Northern Marianas Trades Institute Director of Continuing Education Ross Manglona of Rota.
The AD 2022 committee chairman, former Speaker Oscar M. Babauta, introduced the other campaign officials. They are the vice chairman for candidates, former Sen. Pete P. Reyes; the vice chairman for platform, former Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality Administrator Frank Rabauliman; the treasurer, Nora “Palaksi” Sablan Fejeran; and the secretary, Terry Borja Camacho.
The executive committee is comprised of former Rep. Claudio Norita, Manny Castro and Frank Duenas.
A group of advisers include former Rep. Jesus Attao and the legal counsels are JP San Nicolas and Mike Evangelista.
Also present from the island of Tinian was former Mayor James Mendiola.
“This evening signifies the launching of our official campaign,” Babauta said. “We will be moving forward aggressively and as a bigger movement for the people of the Commonwealth,” he added.
Long hard road
The campaign will be a “long and hard road,” Palacios said as he expressed his gratitude to the presence of a large number of people at the opening ceremony of their campaign headquarters.
“This was supposed to be a small event,” he added. “We were just going to have a blessing and a small gathering. But I am so happy that a lot of you took the time to join us this evening. I want to thank all of you who helped prepare our humble working space for our AD 2022 campaign. Biba!
“This is going to be a long road — a hard road [because] some of our friends who are running also for governor and lt. governor have a lot of strength. Let us not underestimate the strength of our opponents. Some of them have a lot more resources, [perhaps] 10 times the resources that we have. But our challenge is to win the heart and soul of the people of the Commonwealth and to build back the Commonwealth.
“We will restore their confidence, not just in our government but in ourselves as a society and as a community. Doing good for each and every one, and for every member of our community — that is what we need to do to bring back and rebuild the trust.
“We have lost our way and we all know it…. Things could be better.”
Palacios said with the amount of resources that the CNMI government has at its disposal, referring to the federal relief funds, “we need to do it right.”
“I know a lot of things have been happening in the past weeks and in the past days but you know, that is how democracy works and let’s see what will happen next week,” he added, referring to the looming impeachment of Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres in the Democrat-led House of Representatives.
Torres’s new running mate is Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan while the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Tina Sablan, has yet to announce her running mate.
According to the CNMI Constitution, “if no candidates receive more than one half of the total votes cast and counted for the offices of the governor and lt. governor, on the fourteenth day thereafter, a runoff election shall be held between the candidates for governor and the lieutenant governor receiving the highest and second highest number of votes cast and counted for those offices.”
The independent gubernatorial team of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, third left, and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, fourth right, with supporters from Tinian and Palacios’s brother, Alex, right.
Independent 2022 gubernatorial election candidates Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David Apatang shake hands at their campaign headquarters on Beach Road in Garapan.
Saipan Mayor David Apatang, center, with his family members.
