THE lack of records and guidelines made possible “one of the biggest money grabs we have ever seen,” said Rep. Tina Sablan, referring to the outgoing administration’s Building Optimism, Opportunity, and Stability Together or BOOST program.
Sablan, a member of a fact-finding House joint committee, said she wonders if the absence of documentation, clear process, standards, rubric or conflict-of-interest policy was deliberate or simply incompetence on the part of those handling the program funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.
“Was it by design? The bank administrator surely knew better,” she said referring to Bank of Saipan President John Z. Arroyo.
The members of the review panel — Office of the Governor Chief of Staff Wil Castro, former Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig, Commerce Secretary Edward “Tofila” Deleon Guerrero and his designee, Economic Development Director Jess Taisague — “certainly should have known better,” Sablan said before the joint hearing conducted by the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations and Ways and Means committees adjourned Thursday.
“One thing that is clear to me is that the absence of records and guidelines made possible one of the biggest money grabs we have ever seen,” Sablan said.
She noted that the applications of close family members and friends and associates of the review panelists, of the bank, of the Republican Party and of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres were awarded the largest amounts.
“It is a travesty, it is a shame,” she added. “This program could have done so much to help so many people who truly needed help with their businesses, their nonprofits, [but] this money was squandered and really just lined the pockets of the few.”
Initial attempt
The House Ways and Means chairman and co-chair of the joint committee, Rep. Donald Manglona, said Republican Rep. Joseph Leepan Guerrero earlier introduced House Joint Resolution 22-13, which proposed to authorize the Marianas Public Land Trust to receive and administer $15 million as a subrecipient of the American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Manglona said this was the Republican administration’s initial attempt to spend the federal monies. But he said his committee decided not to act on the resolution “because we felt that MPLT wasn’t in a position to administer federal funds.”
Manglona said BOOST “was a way for the administration to circumvent” the House.
“What’s going to happen after ARPA runs out? What’s going to happen come next fiscal year?” he asked.
He noted that before the CNMI received ARPA funds, quite a lot of government employees were furloughed.
The BOOST program could have helped those employees, he said. The program could have allowed them to pursue something that could make themselves their own bosses, he added.
Rep. Joel Camacho said the BOOST awards could have been converted into stimulus checks and distributed before Christmas.
“So I just want to state that I apologize and empathize with those businesses out there who are honest and diligent in submitting their BOOST [applications] only to be sidelined because of political affiliations,” he said.
He encourages those who did not receive BOOST funds to continue to strive. Hopefully, he said, there will be future opportunities provided through a process that is equitable and not biased.
He congratulated all those who received the BOOST awards, but he also highly recommended that they stick with the intended purpose of the funds given to them. “We hope to see those businesses out there that they will actually put those funds towards rebuilding the economy — we hope to see you prosper and we hope to see your success,” he said.
But “there’s so much uncertainty moving forward with audits that are forthcoming,” he said adding that the U.S. inspector general may soon review the CNMI’s expenditures of ARPA funds.
Conflict of interest
Rep. Leila Staffler agreed with Camacho, saying that the BOOST program could have been an amazing program for the community. However, she said what they have heard over the course of the joint committee hearings raised concerns about conflict of interest.
She said the House should consider bringing in the contractors associated with the BOOST program: Shayne Villanueva, Rob Travilla, Salina Sapp, Frank Camacho, Perry Inos Jr., Ned Pablo, Joe Mesa, James Petitte and Jesse Ogo.
Bad situation
Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao said it is sad that the BOOST program that was supposed to give hope to businesses that suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic was implemented in a way that puts the CNMI government in a really bad situation when it comes to federal assistance in the future.
Like Camacho, he believes that the U.S. inspector general auditors will be here very soon.
The House JGO chair and co-chair of the joint committee, Rep. Celina Babauta, asked, “Where does one even begin to understand what transpired with the BOOST program? We still have a lot of questions that we may not be able to get answers.”
She said based on the public hearings they conducted and the documents they reviewed, Castro, the governor’s campaign manager, reviewed, made money decisions and rushed checks just before the election.
“All evidence,” she said, pointed to Castro acting in his capacity as the chief of staff and as an “extension” of the governor.
She said the testimonies given by the review panelists who appeared before the House joint committee “were contradicting each other and they were inconsistent throughout and the only thing consistent in their testimonies is that everything in what they said was inconsistent.”
Babauta said according to Taisague, the review panel considered applications of unique businesses. But while Taisague’s businesses associate, Alexandria Jing, was awarded a total of $1 million for her multiple businesses, Eucon Medical Services was awarded only $20,000 — a mere drop in the bucket compared to the amount that Taisague’s business associate received, Babauta said.
She said they have so much more to uncover with respect to the BOOST program. “We have so much more to look into and we will not have time to finish the work. However, the work of the people is never done. And this matter will be referred to proper authorities,” she added.
Rep. Celina Babauta speaks during a House joint committee hearing on the Building Optimism, Opportunity, and Stability Together program on Thursday.
Rep. Joel Camacho delivers his remarks during a House joint committee hearing on the Building Optimism, Opportunity, and Stability Together program on Thursday.
