The president also said in his 100 days in office he was able to organize his cabinet in record time and placed the Palau Public Utilities Corporation (PPUC) into a “positive mode” and made sure that the power generation is again reliable.
The president added that Palau has also made payments to dues with international organizations.He also noted that Palau has also made debt payments it owed the Mega Bank in Taiwan last April 28.The president said that Palau has also reaffirmed its relationship with Taiwan, United States and Japan where he recently conducted state visits.“I was able to manage our finances, activate the Compact review and avoid termination of federal grants and programs through a Compact extension for 2009-2010,” Toribiong told reporters.The president’s goal for the rest of his term is to push for economic development.“I am pushing for economic development,” he stated.He said that one of his priorities is also to ensure that education is not compromised.He however urged the lawmakers to work with him and to “ be more active.”He cited that so far, Congress has only passed two bills since they were installed in office.In his first State of the Republic Address , April 20, Toribiong said the State of the Republic is ” precariousbut he is upbeat that under his administration the state of the country ” is on the way to full recovery.”In his address the president said that when he assumed the presidency, he had inherited problems which includes the lack of a budget, massive budgetary shortfall, no meaningful progress in the Compact funding review with the United States and a significant reduction in the local tax revenue.
