Earlier this month, Rota and Tinian municipal council members “went on a trade mission to the Philippines…to study modern technologies in vegetable production and farming industry,” and to “establish business relationships with key Philippine cities.” Lawmakers, for their part, traveled (in business class?) all the way to the nation’s capital to tell the feds how broke the CNMI is.
We have already lost count of the number of travels made by CNMI officials in search of “investors” and “additional revenue.” They have brought back neither. Meanwhile, businesses that are already here are shutting down, and the government continues to squander revenue that can still be raised locally.
This month, the austerity administration asked the Legislature to exempt two departments from the government hiring ban so they can hire five personnel. According to the governor, “The filling of these vacant positions are of vital importance for the efficient delivery of essential public services.” Of course. After all, what government job is not “vitally important” — to the politician who wants to hire someone for it?
On Tuesday, in a meeting with lawmakers, administration officials said the government must reduce its expenditures. It was like a gathering of alcoholics at a bar, drinking and vowing never to drink again.
Indeed, what the public should realize is that every time the administration and the Legislature talk about cutting expenses, they are not referring to their expenses, which are always “essential.”
In other words, they’re all talk. Otherwise, they could have already cut their costs by eliminating their travel, car and gasoline allowances, shutting down their offices’ A/C units, reducing the salaries of the top officials of all branches of government, terminating all “special advisers” and “consultants,” hiring only competent people, and not filling vacancies.
And if they really want to “bring in investors,” then they should make the CNMI more business-friendly. However, changing labor and immigration rules every election year, doubling government fees, imposing high power rates and scheduling daily blackouts will not entice businesses to invest here, even if all CNMI officials go on daily off-island “trade missions.”
Some good news
THERE are lawmakers who do not go on junkets and who use their own cars when performing their duties. They deserve the gratitude of the suffering public.
And then there are businesses, parents and other individuals who continue to help public schools raise funds and pay for the materials and equipment needed by the students. The community values and appreciates them.
As indicated by our series of reports on the state of public schools, shortage of teachers, lack of facilities, dilapidated buildings, among many other things, remain major concerns for PSS — even as elected officials continue to proclaim how pro-education they are.
As this bloated and wasteful government approaches bankruptcy, it is good to know that the CNMI still has some officials who are not insensitive to public opinion; and members of the community who, unlike most elected officials, put their money where their mouth is.
