TINIAN — Tinian and Aguiguan welcomed its new municipal leadership with an inaugural ceremony on Friday, Jan. 13 in San Jose.
Incumbent Republican Mayor Edwin Palacios Aldan was sworn in for his second term, along with newly elected 19th Tinian Municipal Council Chair Joseph Romaldo Evangelista Santos, Vice Chair Ana Marie Cruz San Nicolas, and Secretary Estevan Pangelinan Cabrera. All four were first sworn-in by Justice Perry B. Inos on Monday, Jan. 9 at the CNMI Supreme Court.
In his inaugural address, Mayor Aldan thanked the previous administration, and welcomed the new administration.
“Our partnership with the Torres-Palacios administration brought additional resources to the municipal projects, programs, and services; allowed for the delegation of authority to manage municipal projects, and more importantly, a seat at the head of the table for the Tinian leadership, especially with the Department of Defense, for any discussion on matters pertaining to Tinian; and as Gov. Arnold Palacios and Lt. Gov. David Apatang assumed the helm of leadership and the unenviable task of governing our great Commonwealth, we look forward to building the same partnership, mutual understanding, and support. Their success is Tinian’s success, and I can call upon all of us to pray for God to shine His guidance and blessings upon them and their team,” the mayor said.
Disaster recovery
Mayor Aldan thanked the municipality for trusting him with another four years as mayor, after enduring several disasters, such as Super Typhoon Yutu and the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“I stand before you deeply humbled by the privilege that you have once again bestowed upon me to serve as the mayor of our beautiful island. When we started this journey together four years ago, we faced the daunting challenge of rebuilding our community from the devastation brought on by the biggest typhoon to ever hit the Marianas in our generation. We all knew that the road to rebuilding and to full recovery was going to be long and grueling. I told you that I alone, as your mayor couldn’t do it. I need all of us. I need every single member of this community, elected or not, to rise to the challenge by taking pride in our community, taking ownership of our island, taking the responsibility and care for one another. One team. Team Tinian,” he said.
“Little did we know that soon after the world, we would be ravaged by a global pandemic, the global pandemic that would shut down our borders and trigger a worldwide economic crisis that has disproportionately impacted CNMI’s economy, given our reliance on tourism and our geopolitical location.”
“Needless to say,” he said, “our journey together has not been easy. It has been a trying time for all of us. But together, we built our community, our homes, and our lives, kept each other safe and got back on our feet, remained steadfast, and really displayed our resiliency and drive that gave a newfound meaning to Team Tinian, a team that consists of every single member of this community, who reflected the embodiment of inafa’maolek, which has given all of us the resolve to keep moving forward,” he said.
Moreover, he said, “All through this resolve, our Tinian leadership remained focused on finding opportunities to build a self-sustainable economy for our island. While borders were shut down, we accepted the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, the challenge to enhance our tourist destinations. And as our tourists slowly return today, we can all be proud to welcome them to our beautiful and clean public facilities.”
Military
“While the media pundits and various trolls on social media focus on politics of misinformation and divisiveness, your Tinian leadership was busy groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting, and completion as well of midsize projects and finding fundings for municipal employment programs and services. We did that by forging strong relationships, partnership, and associations across the CNMI, the region and the federal government, built on interests that are aligned with the needs of the people of Tinian,” said Aldan.
He said over the course of these past four years, the municipality’s partnership with the Department of Defense has only grown stronger.
“We started this administration ready to defend and protect Tinian from military activities that we believe to be harmful to our people, destructive to our environment, and incompatible with our way of life. We also stood in full support of the divert project, which we believe would contribute to the growth of our private sector, economy, and the creation of job opportunities for our people,” he said.
“Today, I can stand before the people of Tinian and say that because of the strong partnerships we have made, harmful plans for Tinian and Pagan under the 2015 Commonwealth joint military training draft environmental impact statement have been eliminated. That means no more constructions of landing ground in Chulu Beach, no more high hazard impact area, no more extensive range footprints, extensive fencing, and specially used airspace.
“Today, instead we’ll talk about how we can save our island from destructive activities. We are finally talking about fixing and building infrastructures that mutually benefits DoD activities and the community alike. We’re talking about land designation within the military’s area for our new landfill, short-term solutions for our solid waste issues, planning and identifying resources to review the water break, and repair and maintenance of growth within the military leased area. We are talking about training and decrease and footprints are compatible with our way of life and will create more job opportunities.”
Financial crisis
The mayor noted that the CNMI government’s impending financial crisis comes as no surprise.
“We all knew that these federal funds were going to run out. We all knew that if tourism industry does not recover to pre-pandemic levels, the CNMI would face one of the worst financial crises in history, no matter who the governor is. And as we begin to adjust to a CNMI economy and the municipal government that is not supported by federal aid, these jobs opportunities created by our partnership with DoD are there for you now,” he said.
Going green
Mayor Aldan acknowledged the various measures that the municipality has undertaken to be more environmentally friendly, including its ‘Go Green’ initiative.
“As we move forward together and look towards the future, we are going to remain focused on building on the progress we have made. We will explore green tourism and promote the preservation and protection of our environment for future generations by strengthening and expanding or ‘Go Green’ initiative by promoting our zero-waste management practice that will allow us to address some of our immediate municipal solid waste issues as we work toward a permanent solution for solid waste disposal,” he said.
He noted several handmade recycle bins throughout the grounds, which are used to collect recycled materials that are then transported to the Department of Public Works transfer station to be analyzed, in hopes of one day creating an appropriate waste management system.
Aldan applauded the Tinian High School JROTC program for its recycling efforts and taking the lead to educate the youth about sustainable waste management.
He likewise commended the Tinian Legislative Delegation for recently passing a local law to ban single-use plastic on Tinian, which he hopes will be the first bill Governor Palacios signs into law.
“I also have a very ambitious goal for Tinian, to lead the charge into alternative energy and hopefully become the model energy and fishing community of the Pacific. Our ‘Go Green’ initiative and push for alternative energy is consistent with a global initiative to slow down the impact of climate change, and as we see this typhoon was stronger and more destructive, we must all do our part to defend our island from the rising sea level because of climate change,” said Aldan.
Infrastructure
The mayor said the municipality will continue working on rebuilding its infrastructure by working with the CNMI Public Assistance Office and the Office of the Governor to expedite the completion of local CIP and FEMA projects, including a civic center where all government departments, including his office, will be housed, acting as a “one-stop” center for residents, eliminating the need to travel to multiple destinations to seek government services.
“They will also be government-owned, which results in saving money for the government,” he said.
“Your Tinian leadership and I believe that the priorities we set in place are crucial to the growth of economic and environmental sustainability of our island. These goals and initiative will require time and resources to fully achieve. More importantly, it requires community buy-in and participation. There is no way that we can get what we need to accomplish without Team Tinian. Yes, our goals might take time to fully accomplish. However, through our determination and love for this community together, we will get there,” he added.
Next generation
Aldan said he wants to end his second mayoral term knowing that he did all he could to address the most pressing challenges of this time, while leaving the municipality better-prepared for its future. He said he has already begun doing so by investing in the development of the younger generations.
“My administration, in the last two years, has prioritized employment for our young, driven, and talented individuals to begin their training, as future leaders are the next gatekeepers of Tinian. We must prepare our future by giving our younger generation the opportunity to participate at all levels of government, so we can seamlessly continue the transfer of institutional knowledge and give them the necessary experience to be ready to rise and answer the call of public service. We need to start looking at the mayor’s office as more than just an employment center, but a training ground for future leaders in our government and our community,” he said.
“These are not new ideas, as we as a community just need to stop talking about it, and be about it. And with the partnership that we have built, and your buy-in, there’s no limit as to what we can accomplish together,” he said.
Aldan also extended his gratitude to the Tinian Republic Party, his committee-to-elect, his family, friends, employees, and the community.
Congratulations
Although unforeseen weather conditions caused several officials to not be in attendance for the ceremony, some local and U.S. military officials were present and extended their congratulatory remarks to the newly-elected leadership. Among them were Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, the commander of Joint Region Marianas.
“Tinian is one of our great partners in the region, and we’re so super happy to be here to support this inauguration. Mayor Aldan and the people of Tinian, they’ve been absolutely fantastic to our people here. As you know, we’ve had US Navy Seabees and marine engineers working here for quite some time. The Seabees have worked on one of the roads here in Tinian. We’ve got many more other projects that are going on, including the divert project where we’re improving the airport as well with the Air Force, so Tinian has been great partners. It’s a great area that we’ve done a lot of training on, and we’re really looking at those projects that we can do that are beneficial to both the Department of Defense and the people of Tinian, like the divert, like some of the roads, and in the future, some harbor improvement projects,” said Nicholson.
The inaugural ceremony also included the posting and retiring of the colors by the Tinian Jr./Sr. High School JROTC Color Guard, and an opening invocation and closing benediction by Fr. Anthony Aguason, and speeches by the 19th Tinian Municipal Council. The master of ceremonies was Eric J. Reyes.
Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan is sworn into office as his wife Rosita holds a Bible.
Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan poses for a photo with his wife, Rosita, ahead of his inaugural ceremony.
Tinian Jr./Sr. High School JROTC Color Guard march in for the posting of the colors.
Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan and his wife Rosita place their right hands over their hearts as they sing the CNMI anthem.
Justice Perry B. Inos, Fr. Anthony Aguason, Sen. Karl R. King-Nabors, Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz, and Rep. Patrick H. San Nicolas place their right hands over their hearts as they sing the CNMI anthem.
Javie and Janika Decena sing the CNMI anthem with Eric J. Reyes playing the piano.
Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan gives his inaugural address.
Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, third right, poses for a photo with military officials, including Joint Region Marianas Commander, Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, second right.
Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, 2nd left, and the Tinian Municipal Council members — Estevan Pangelinan Cabrera, Joseph Romaldo Evangelista Santos and Ana Marie Cruz San Nicolas — smile for a photo after being sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023 at the CNMI Supreme Court in Susupe.
