Chamber and the President on Fire

This is not a regular scene from the lobby of the Guma Hustisia House of Justice in Susupe. This was the scene today during the Congressional Hearing with Reps. Christian Dior, Bored-hallow, and Fatun-gaga (who could remember the names anyway). Anyway, going back to the Chamber, I guess, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce finally came around to let Alex Sablan to speak on its president's behalf.

Questions:

1. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because he is more eloquent and articulate?
2. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because his business would not be directly affected by such boycott threat?
3. Did they let Alex Sablan speak up because he is more telegenic?

You tell me.

Btw, Juanpan (Chamber president) was inside the court room for the hearing. He was present.

Chamber and the Prisoners of Business Ban

News today about Saipan Chamber of Commerce's public voting on its stand regarding federalization of the CNMI, majority voted against it but largely divided on the grandfathering issue, says the papers.

Questions of the community are:

1. Was the voting a vindication on the boycott or business ban on its president's business empire on Saipan?
2. Would the result of this voting affect the federal decision on the take over?
3. Why didn't the Chamber provide the public the names of the businesses that are against or supportive of the issues today?
4. Do consumers have the right to know which are which?

You tell me.

The Reveler

'Chamber of the Phoenix'

Ok. A Filipino group and the Philippine Consulate spoke about the mass boycott for Saipan Chamber president Juanpan Guerrero's businesses in the CNMI. One said, the ConGen, it's a blackmail, the other, United Filipino Organization, said it is clueless about the text message's origin.

So they spoke. Sources said, the latter, when he went to the bakeshop that Guerrero owns, the UFO leader received free goodies, like a "gift of appreciation from the bakeshop for what he told the media. "I felt they were so glad with what I said in the paper," the leader shared with us.

As for the blackmail, maybe the ConGen is waiting for "black mail" that has numbers hidden in it. Just a thought. As for the goodies, can we consider that a "bribe?" Just a thought again. ;-)

The Reveler

I Say Don't Shoot! What the...

Oh oh. The Chamber has spoken. This will be up in the paper tomorrow, i believe. Read on! I'm highlighting some words you might like...

Saipan Chamber of Commerce has taken Organization-wide Position on Proposed Federalization of Immigration

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce objects to federalization of CNMI immigration on principle; the CNMI government and business community did not have the opportunity to negotiate issues with the federal government. The legislation, as written, confirms that the federal government did not listen to the CNMI perspective.

There were a number of points that were not addressed: The CNMI has no guarantee of future access to a sufficient workforce; tourism is now the primary CNMI industry, yet there is no guarantee of future access to tourists from China and Russia; the entire guest worker program would completely phase out; and the legislation provides no economic relief for the impact of the contemplated changes.

Mr. Juan T. Guerrero is presenting the Chamber¹s position to the United States Congress in his capacity as President of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. He is not in Washington, D.C. presenting his personal opinion.

The Chamber asks that retaliation not be taken against any individual businesses. Hurting one Saipan business hurts all Saipan businesses and residents. In a small economy, businesses rely on each other in daily commerce. There exists an economic domino effect, and if businesses suffer extensively, there will be a loss of jobs in the community.

So what do you think?

The Reveler

Stop Don't Shoot!

Whoa! Tomorrow's news will have Juan Pan's side of the story. He is obviously aware of the massive SMS/text campaign on banning or boycotting his businesses. He said, "Please don't shoot the messenger," adding that it was the Saipan Chamber of Commerce board's position on federal takeover.

The Reveler

SMS against Juan Pan...

Yesterday morning most of the non-resident workers (NRWs) in the CNMI received island wide SMS or text messages encouraging the NRWs not to patronize the businesses owned by Saipan Chamber of Commerce president John "Juan Pan" Guerrero, namely Herman's Bakery, Western Union, and Mita Travel et al for being against CNMI's federal takeover.

This is history repeating itself as they say when Rep. Ray Yumul introduced a bill that was regarded "anti-NRWs" before, that led to the closure of one Jollibee Restaurant branch that his family owned in Chalan Kanoa.

I went to an establishment and these NRWs were talking about the text message and murmured that they would try to follow the advice.

I sat today with former ranking officials and talked about issues on the island. This ranking official spoke about the stand of the Chamber of Commerce. Apparently, SCC's stand as the paper reported does not want "grandfathering" of the NRWs on the island.

The former official said one should request from the Chamber minutes of their meeting that the stand is actually the group's position and not just Juan Pan's. Makes sense to me.

He said Juan Pan's majority of workers for his successful businesses are NRWs that have been working for him at least five years and up. The former ranking official said this man should be investigated.

What do you think?

The Reveler