Senator Pangelinan gives main speech for 2011 Fall Ceremony
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Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan Phone: 473-4236 Email: senbenp@guam.net
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 26, 2012– Hagåtña) – Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan (D), Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations (Committee) introduced Resolution No. 311-31 (COR) which expresses the Guam Legislature’s expenditure priorities of Compact Impact Act Funds in FY2012 to include the repair and renovation of the Untalan Middle School in the amount of $3.2 million.
The Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) annually grants the government of Guam Compact Impact Funds based on the Amended Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Republic of Belau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Last year, the OIA provided the government of Guam $16.8 million in Compact Impact Funding. This year, over $16.6 million is budgeted for Guam.
“Resolution No. 311-31 expresses the sense of the Guam Legislature and articulates the Legislature’s recommendation as to where the Compact Impact Funds should be expended,” stated Pangelinan.
Approval of the expenditures of Compact Impact Funds are granted by the Department of Interior upon the submission of the proposed uses by the Governor. The resolution will be forwarded to the Governor and Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, Tony Babauta, upon passage.
“Although the Governor had no concrete plans for repairing or renovating the Untalan Middle School campus when he decided to close the school, this provides a real and tangible solution that will address the funding issue for the Barrigada campus.”
In addition, funding for the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority for pharmaceutical supplies and the Medically Indigent Program in the amount of $4.83 million, for the Department of Public Health and Social Services for pharmaceutical and medical supplies for the Guam Community Health Centers in the amount of $750,000, and to the Guam Police Department for the lease or construction of facilities in the amount of $750,000 were identified in the Resolution.
“We do not want a situation again like last year where the Governor waited until the last minute to request for the Compact Impact Funding for the purchase of ambulances only when a tragedy happens. We recommend that the Governor and the Guam Department of Education collaborate and request these funds as soon as they become available so that the students, teachers, and administrators can plan to be in their renovated and repaired campus by the beginning of next school year,” concluded Pangelinan.
For further information, please contact the Offices of Senator ben pangelinan at 473-4236 or email at senbenp@guam.net.
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 26, 2012 – Hagåtña) – In a letter to Department of Administration Director Benita Manglona, Senator Pangelinan (D-Barrigada) called attention to the department’s noncompliance with reporting requirements.
Legislation that was introduced by then-Senator Edward J.B. Calvo, mandates the Director of DOA to certify and submit a Monthly General Fund Cash Position Report, a Weekly General Fund Cash Position Report, a Weekly Cash Disbursement Analysis, and a Monthly Cash Balance Report according to the letter.
“The Committee is concerned that these reports have not been submitted,” the letter states. The letter goes on to say, “The Committee and the Guam Legislature are committed to the principles of governmental transparency and accountability. Due to the lack of adherence to the laws… it is difficult to surmise that these principles are being upheld.”
Click here to read the letter.
For further information, please contact the Offices of Senator ben pangelinan at 473-4236 or email at senbenp@guam.net
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 26, 2012– Hagåtña) – Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan (D), Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations continues to warn the Governor of the consequences of withholding 15% of the Guam Department of Education GDOE budget. He has sent several letters to the Calvo Administration over the past few months, urging him to release the unrealistic 15% reserve that was placed on GDOE, but the Governor has continued to hide in silence.
Now, the Public Auditor has expressed the same concerns articulated by Senator Pangelinan. In a recent media report, Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks adds to the concerns that Senator Pangelinan has expressed that expecting DOE to adjust by $30,000,000 is going to be a very difficult task and will involve shutdowns, layoffs, and so on.
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 12, 2012– Hagåtña) – At yesterday’s Round Table meeting conducted by Senator Pangelinan and the Committee on Appropriations, the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) presented an update to the Guam Legislature on Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) funded from an ARRA reimbursement. Public Law 31-40, authored by Senator Pangelinan, appropriates over $60 million to GDOE primarily to repair schools and buy equipment and also provided an extended deadline for all appropriations to either be used or obligated by September 30, 2012.
During yesterday’s presentation, it was announced that several of the ARRA-funded projects slated for this school year have been delayed and are pending legal review, protests, or appeals, among other issues.
The most pressing issue discussed was the recent controversial move for Untalan students, faculty, and staff to the Core Tech Tiyan Campus, which according to GDOE Superintendent Taling Taitano and Sodexo Project Manager Tracy Higuera is not necessary.
Taitano advised the Committee that, including Untalan Middle School, none of the buildings in which any of the public schools are housed are hazardous to the safety and health of Guam’s public school students. Higuera also stated that the Requests for Proposals included specific language that all projects would be performed without disruption to the regular school year calendar with the exception of upgrades for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs which would occur during the summer months.
“I am concerned that the public and the Guam Education Board are being misled into believing that this Tiyan campus is the solution to our problems when, in fact, GDOE’s consultants (Sodexo) have already stated that there is no need for an interim campus,” says Pangelinan. “The other concern I have is that no one is talking, publicly, about how the option to terminate the lease has been deleted in its entirety in this new amended lease agreement. This means that we are obligated to Core Tech whether or not there is a need.”
The Guam Education Board is expected to meet tomorrow to decide on whether or not to relocate the Untalan campus to Tiyan.
For further information, please contact the Offices of Senator ben pangelinan at 473-4236 or email at senbenp@guam.net
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 11, 2012 – Hagåtña) – Senator Ben Pangelinan (D-Barrigada) wrote a letter to Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks requesting that an audit be conducted on all bonuses issued by GPA to Independent Power Producers (IPP) pursuant to the clauses in their contracts.
“I hope to find out if these bonus clauses result in a savings to GPA and whether or not these savings are being passed on to GPA ratepayers,” the Senator commented on the purpose of his request.
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 5, 2012– Hagåtña) – Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan (D), Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations introduced Bill No. 138, now Public Law 31-166 created the “First-Time Home Owner Assistance Program Act” and becomes a dream come true for those seeking to buy or build their first home. The bill signed into law yesterday updated the original law and is now a program funded through the newly established Housing Trust Fund.
The First-Time Home Owner Assistance Program, coupled with the Housing Trust Fund Act, will provide qualified first-time homeowners with a grant of up to $10,000 towards the purchase or construct a home. The amount of financial assistance is 4 percent of the construction or purchase cost of homes that are $250,000 or below. The Guam Housing Corporation (GHC) will both administer and fund the program and is mandated to adopt rules and regulations within 90 days of the law’s enactment.
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (January 4, 2012– Hagåtña) – Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan (D), Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Taxation, Public Debt, Banking, Insurance, Retirement & Land (Committee) sent a letter to the Department of Revenue and Taxation (RevTax) Director John Camacho, reminding him that the almost $21 million in Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) reimbursement the government of Guam will be receiving from the United States Treasury, are specifically budgeted for payment of 2010 income tax refunds owed.
“Public Law 31-76 requires that 90% of the ACTC reimbursements should be directly deposited into the Income Tax Refund Efficient Payment Trust Fund and that amount equals almost $21 million that the government should receive by the second quarter of fiscal year 2012,” stated Senator Pangelinan. “I am requesting Director Camacho to comply with the law once the funds are received which will certainly decrease the government’s Income Tax Refund liability.”
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (December 21, 2011– Hagåtña) –Senator Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, is once again appealing to the Calvo administration, urging he release the funding to the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) so that the unacceptable conditions in classrooms at schools such as George Washington High School (GWHS) that the Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS) have closed, can be addressed. Senator Pangelinan earlier sent a letter on December 2nd to the Bureau of Budget and Management Research (BBMR) Director requesting funds be released to the GDOE as soon as possible. Section 17 of Public Law 31-75 appropriates $525,000 to the GDOE for the payment of air conditioning equipment and maintenance and collateral equipment for GWHS and collateral equipment for Simon Sanchez and Southern High Schools and Agueda Johnston Middle School.
“It’s absurd that the Governor does not take swift action in directing his BBMR and Department of Administration Directors to release or transfer these funds to these schools that have deplorable classroom conditions yet he authorizes a transfer of over $1.6 million to fund the food services for the inmates at the Department of Corrections,” stated Senator Pangelinan. “I included these amounts in Public Law 31-75 in order to provide the students with adequate classroom conditions prior to the beginning of the school year, yet it has been over four months since the beginning of the school year and these funds have yet to be released.”
