-----,.--=--, I I UNIVERSITY OF HAWP II I !~'?/,.RY e By Rafael H. Arroyo way · for a Korean companyJ to faith and credit of the CNMI gov- The construction of n new pris- Variety News Staff finance and build the facility at a ernment. ons facility is being pressed by THE TENORIO Administration cost of between $16 million to "(I believe that) financing will the US Department of Interior, is considering plans at building a $20 million. be necessary in order to accom- concerned about the bad state of new, multi-million dollar correc­ In a letter to the presiding offic­ plish construction of the new the existing jail on Saipan. tions facility to alleviate over­ ers of the House of Representa­ prison ... However, financing The Saipan jail has recently crowding at Saipan's current de­ tives and the Senate, Borja asked means going into debt... and the been the focus of criticism from tention centers. if the lawmaking body would be constitutional power of approv- certain officials, ,including Public According to acting Gov. Jesus willing to authorize payment for ing public debt is vested firmly Defender Dan DeRienzo who C. Borja, negotiations are under- the project as it requires the full with you," Borja told Speaker once described it as a "medieval Diego T. Benavente and Senate dungeon." President Jesus R. Sablan. Interior's director for Insular Repeal ·of garment regs to Thus, he said, the executive Affairs, Allen Stayman, it could branch needs to know the be recalled, included jail improve- Legislature's position on this Jesus C. Borja ment among recommendations he cost gov't $500,000 in fees matter "before we proceed any made in a recent report on CNMI AS A RESULT of acting Gov. Jesus Borja's repeal last week of further." unless the Legislature is willing issues to US Congress. the emergency garment regulations, the government will have to "It is almost pointless for us to to consider approving the financ- Stayman suggested that the refund some $500,000 in application fees paid by garment set out a request for proposals ing," said the acting governor. Continued on page 20 factories to the Department of Labor and Immigration, a legal officer of the department said yesterday. Asst. Atty. Gen. Dan Aguilar said at least 1,400 applications Saipan may0r's office does a l for nonresident worker permits had been filed with the depart­ ment since the emergency regulations were signed by Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio last Sept. 3. PSS: 'Give us our budget too' I About five new factories have applied for new permits, Aguilar By Mar-Vic C. Munar Legislature's move to grant the "To this end," the mayor told 1 said. Variety News Staff Public School System's request Sablan, "I am appealing to you ( Borja repealed the controversial emergency regulations be­ TA KING a cue from the for a separate budget for fiscal and the legislature to consider l cause of its perceived inconsistency with Public Law 9-IO, year 1997, the Saipan Mayor's and enact on a timely fashion l otherwise known as the Garment Industry Moratorium Act. Office is demanding its own our budget submission in order J The Act imposes a quota on garment workers based on the 1995 budget,too. that, together we can provide j level. 'The Office of the Mayor of our constituents with the urgent j Legislators believed the emergency regulations issued by the Saipan is totally dependent on public services they deserve." 1 Department of Commerce would open the door to 7,800 new adequate funding to carry out its Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio ve- i garment workers. constitutionally-mandated public toed the 1997 budget legislation ·1 In his Oct.· 1s directive, Borja instructed the labor department duties and responsibilities,'; saying he was no~ pleased with to refund the fees paid by the garment factories that applied for Saipan Mayor Jesus DL. Guerrero the revisions made by the Legis- new worker permits. said in a letter St:!nt Tuesday to lature on his proposal. j "Half a million dollars is not an inconsequential amount of Senate President Jesus Sablan. The Legislature has not moved l money. Whether it will affect the whole government operation, Guerrero said unless the Legis­ to override the veto. ' I cannot speculate. But it's still revenue generation. We prefer to lature acts on the budget request, Under the vetoed bill, the keep it but, we have to give them back," Aguilar said, "the Office of the Mayor will not Saipan Mayor's Office was to Aguilar said agencies identified by the Nonresident Workers be able to effectively provide get $2.37 million. Continued on page 20 Jesus Deleon Guerrero many essential public services." ' Contmued on page 20 . '------------~-----------·------- . -·--l More SPC delegates arrive By Mar-Vic C. Munar Palau, Tuvalu, New Caledouia Variety News Staff and Fiji arrived earlier in the day. AT LEAST 30 South Pacific A total or 140 participants arc Commission delegates and staff expected to arrive, Borja told re­ members including the porters. commission's Secretary General, C~o-n~t,~n_u_e __d_o_n_p_a_g_e-.20 Robert Dun, arrived on Saipan yesterday afternoon for the 36th SPC Conference scheduled for next week. Weather The conference will run from Oct.. 30 to Nov. 1, but certain SPC committees and United Na­ Outlook tion agencies such as the UN De­ velopment Program will hold pre­ conference meetings starting to­ morrow, according to Vicente B01ja, chairman of the Confer­ ence Planing Committee. B01ja led the group that wel­ comed the conference participants at the Saipan International Air­ port. They touched down at 2:30 Partly cloudy isolated More delegates to next week's South Pacific Commission conference arrive at the Saipan International p.m. showers Airport yesterday. Among those who came are participants from Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and New Borja said ambassadors from Caledonia. Photo by M~rvic c. Munar = 2-MARIAN AS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-THURSDAY- OCTOBER 24, 1996 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1996 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-3 AIDS cases among US blacks continue rise Drive vs minors in strip bars 0 By CAROLYN THOMPSON drug users. They said blacks By Jojo Dass their operations from night club nuder before a rowdy crowd of Questions, for instance are minimu wage. BOS-TON (AP) - AIDS warn­ must embrace the cml:e of AIDS Variety News Staff owners who might protest it on male audiecne at the strip joint. now being raised regarding.why On the hand, "Katrina," ·'and ings in the United States are prevention the way gays did a THE DEPARTMENT of Labor gr~u~~sofdisruptionofbus\ness She also compl~ined of ille- thePhilippineforeignaffairsde- "those wh~' helped her falsify apparently reaching high-risk decade ago. ,') and Immigration has began act1v1tJes. gal salary deductions and un- partment issued her the pass- documents, rnayfacechargesfor\ whites but not many blacks, who "Part of (the problem) is de­ ' searching strip joints for em- "We're trying to g~t _the fac_ts paid wages port. doing ~o.. continue to contract the disease nial that has been characteristic \/ ployed minors. This coming in down. I mean ~e ';an tJust go;m added. Aguilar said investigation Agmlar said feder_al oi:eratives in disproportionately high num­ of almost every community af­ the aftermath of complaints filed there and say we re here, we re Her revelations, Aguilar said, based on the complaint is still in are now also looking mto the bers, experts said Tuesday. fected by AIDS," said Dr. Mark by a 15-year old Filipina who gonnachecke~erybodtsID,'~e "opened the Pandora's Box." progress. He added that opera- matter for possible violation of Galvanized by statistics in­ Smith, executive vice president recently claimed she was forced c?nce11_1 that will ~e ra1s,~d then 1s "There are a lot of people that tors of the kalesa Bar may face ch_i,ld labor law. dicating that blacks will account of the Henry J. Kaiser Family to dance naked by operators of a d1~rupt1on of business, Agmlar may face sanctions as a result.. charges for violating laws on . Th~ U~ Department of Labor for more than half of new AIDS Foundation, which helped fund night club in Chanlan Kanaoa. said. a lot of it can be from the Phil- non-resident workers and 1s looking mto the.case. The Fed- cases by 2000, black leaders the meeting at the Harvard AIDS "We are now looking into sev- "But the thing is we're not ippines," he said. era! Bureau of Investigation as convened an emergency meet­ Institute. eral night clubs. We have been going to condone the practice... well iH e:lsa iHte it," -he-said. ing to plot prevention strate­ "The reality of it is, I think receiving reportsandwe'vegath- that kind of conduct on the mi- gies. people understand how the dis­ ered that there might be addi- nor is not going to be tolerated," Conference organizer Mario ease is spread," said Cooper, tional people in other clubs work- he stressed. Cooper noted that the number former chairman of the AIDS inginasminors,"DaniloAguilar, Fifteen year old "Katrina" of AIDS cases among blacks Action Council, a Washington­ DOLI legal counsel told the Va- turned a lot of heads and raised, and whites were, for the first based policy group. But-h; said riety. eyebrows when she, accompa- time, equal in 1995. Both limited access to health care has It was gathered that the DOLi nied by fellow employees of amounted to 40 percent of new Iy slowed progress in halting the has already identifkd a number the Kalesa Bar trooped to the Iraqi Kurish children, ride on the back of a truck in Diyanah, Iraq filled with their families' belongings as they reported cases, while Hispanics disease.