THE Senate on Friday confirmed the nomination of Dr. Elizabeth Emma C. Itibus and Monique B. Sablan to the CNMI Scholarship Board.
Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, Senate Floor Leader Corina L. Magofna, Sens. Celina R. Babauta, Jude U. Hofschneider, Frank Q. Cruz and Dennis Mendiola voted to adapt the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations committee report for the nominees’ confirmation.
Senate Vice President Donald Manglona, Sens. Paul A. Manglona and Karl King-Nabors were excused.
Babauta said the EAGI committee, which she chairs, evaluated Itibus’ credentials and closely examined her education, professional experience and views on public policies. The committee shares the administration’s confidence in Itibus’ professional and academic experiences, Babauta said.
Itibus obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Hawaii Pacific University in December 2011 and returned home in 2012 to serve as a vital statistics clerk at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for a year before working as a fisheries biologist for the Division of Fish and Wildlife. In the summer of 2015, she moved to Savannah, Georgia, where she attended the South University School of Pharmacy. In June 2018, she received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree and returned home to Saipan to begin working again at CHCC where she started as a graduate intern. Upon passing her board examination and getting her RPh license in both the state of Hawaii and the CNMI, she became a staff pharmacist at the CHCC, where she remains today.
As for Sablan’s appointment, Babauta said the committee also scrutinized her qualifications, experience, education and her professional conduct. The committee, she said, has no doubt that Sablan will serve the CNMI students with uniformity.
Sablan graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2015 with a BA in English and a minor in Humanities and Law. She previously worked as a human resources learning and development supervisor at Imperial Pacific International, a workforce program coordinator for the CNMI Scholarship Office, a special assistant for youth affairs, managing director of the CNMI Cannabis Commission, and is currently the director of the Community Development Institute at Northern Marianas College.
She is also involved in the community as treasurer of the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, director of the Commonwealth Cancer Association board, and is an alumna of the Pacific Century Fellows, a leadership development program.
Sen. Hofschneider expressed his support for Itibus and Sablan.
He respectfully asked them to continue their support for programs that build local capacity in the medical field, including behavioral health.
Celina Babauta