“WE are heading for a fiscal cliff once the [American Rescue Plan Act] funds run out,” said Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Christina “Tina” M. E. Sablan during a recent virtual gubernatorial forum on Marianas Agupa radio talk show.
“It is really critical that we begin planning now for that eventuality. It also, I think, just goes to the point of how important it is that we invest those ARPA funds now in the things that have lasting value for people and infrastructure,” she said.
This includes, for example, educational institutions and healthcare, she added.
Sablan said expanding the hospital and building a new hospital are some of the priority objectives that have been outlined by the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation.
“There are federal partnerships that we can tap, funding that is available, that could help us…get to that goal of a new hospital and expanded facilities. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in this administration is really not a lot of transparency about how these funds are being allocated,” she said.
With respect to the hospital, Sablan said $10 million was allocated for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, unit and a hyperbaric chamber.
She said the lack of a quality MRI unit in the CNMI is the number one reason that people are sent off-island for medical referral.
“And here we are, more than a year later, and those funds have yet to be transferred, and CHCC is still in the dark about even just that investment that was promised to them from ARPA,” she said.
“I think spending the money wisely on, again, things that have lasting value for our people, in terms of healthcare, education, and infrastructure — those should be our highest priorities so that we can get to a place where small businesses have the support that they need, the infrastructure that they need to want to provide decent jobs, and to provide the backbone of a healthy economy, that small businesses really be at the heart of that,” she added.
As for her economic development plan, Sablan said, “At the heart of our economic development plan are small businesses and developing a skilled productive workforce. Those two things are the heart of any healthy economy, and they will be front and center in our administration’s plans for economic development. Education is a huge economic driver, and investing in the education and the training of our people is the most important investment we can make.”
Sablan is running with longtime educator, Precinct 5 Rep. Leila Haveia F. Staffler.
“Now, for our long-term economic development, Leila and I will prioritize funding and timely remittances to our public educational institutions,” she said, adding that the Public School System has been “shortchanged” again.
She said PSS was still waiting for roughly $5 million that was owed to them. She added that this has been a chronic problem with the current administration.
Sablan said she and Staffler would also see to it that a “Marianas Jobs Now” initiative is launched to bring together resources from different agencies to match job-seekers to jobs in the private and public sectors.
“As for small businesses, throughout this campaign, Leila and I have been having listening sessions with small business owners and with entrepreneurs, really gaining valuable insights from them about the challenges that they face and the ways that government can help them, and just ease this process of starting and running a small business, so that they have the best chance of success,” she said.
“It’s not even necessarily just about access to financing. That’s one piece of it, but also just the time that people spend waiting at government offices, following up on permits, trying to get people work through — that’s all money. Time is money for small businesses. That [time] could be spent running and expanding their businesses [and] providing decent jobs for people.”
As for tourism, Sablan said, “We want our visitors to love coming here, and we want them to return again and again. One disappointment of mine in the last couple of years is that we really could have been using the time during the pandemic to really clean up our tourist sites, and fixing basic things like signage, roads, and providing clearly marked trails and maps and so forth. We want to promote more diversification, as well as local participation in our tourism industry. I would love to see more local tour guides. We need to provide them with language training.”
She said she would also like to see more local businesses offering local products, including produce from local farms, arts and crafts, and more goods for export.
“I would love to see more investments in industries like agriculture, aquaponics, and renewable energy. These things are all compatible with tourism, and they tap into locally available resources and bring economic value for the people who live here,” she said.
Sablan said she strongly believes in the power of collaboration, bringing great minds and resources together from across different agencies, across education and training institutions and the private sector.
“I would also say that our plans for improving access to healthcare, improving our healthcare infrastructure, investing in village life, [and] water and power infrastructure — all goes hand-in-hand with economic development, and planning for the long-term future and the well-being of our people. In many ways, I think we really need to focus on basics and use the resources that we have to deliver the services and the infrastructure that residents and businesses need,” she said.
The other candidates for governor are the Republican incumbent, Ralph DLG Torres, who is running with Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan; and Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, who is running as an Independent with Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang.
Tina Sablan
