People Briefs
People Briefs
Guam Governor Felix Camacho has named Joseph Duenas as his new chief of staff. Camacho has also appointed Lawrence Perez to replace Duenas as director of Public Works. Perez had been the general manager of the recently-privatized Guam Telephone Authority. The governor's former chief of staff, Tony Sanchez, is now acting director of the Bureau of Statistics and Plans. As chief of staff, Sanchez allegedly authorized the payment of an "earned income tax credit" to one individual while the government's obligation in the matter was being decided in court. The authorization potentially made the government liable for more than $60 million in payments to other taxpayers. -FW Local businessman Siakisone "Jack" Liu was sentenced in February in Honolulu federal court to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay $126,000 restitution for his role in an overpayment scheme to defraud the American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA). He and co-defendant Tofao Fala Tagaloa, a former ASPA employee, both pled guilty last year. -FS Taoati Tooki claimed to be the happiest woman in Kiribati in February. "I cried, wept and I'm very happy," she said, her emotional words spoken on receiving word that her lone teenage son Benjamin Tooki, lost at sea for more than six weeks, had been found alive with his uncle Koraubara Teb'aka and cousin Taea Matakite. The trio in a small boat had disappeared on Jan. 2 while traveling to Tarawa from Maiana Island. They were found in central Kiribati by the fishing boat San Nanumea. Benjamin had come from Australia for the Christmas holidays to visit relatives when he was lost at sea. He has returned to school in Australia. -BB The Director of Fiji's Human Rights Commission, Dr. Shaista Shameem, has been appointed as one of three independent experts to look into human rights violations in Timor Leste. The group will review the prosecution of serious human rights violations committed in 1999 in Timor Leste after the Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia in 1974 voted for independence. -SM Former secretary of the American Samoa Office of Samoan Affairs paramount chief Sotoa Savali is the new Police Commissioner for the Department of Public Safety. Meanwhile, paramount chief Mauga Tasi Asuega, a long time businessman, was named to replace Savali. Both positions are cabinet posts. -FS Miss South Pacific 2002/2003 Lupe Kanape Aumavae began serving a one-year internship with U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye's Washington, D.C. Office in February. She was nominated by American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono to the internship post. -FS Stateless individuals in the Northern Marianas are now expected to receive their U.S. citizenship after the U.S. government decided not to appeal a decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. But they still must apply to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for their passports. More than 200 stateless persons were born to non-U.S. parents in the CNMI from Jan. 9, 1978 to Nov. 4, 1986, the time between the Northern Marianas attaining its self-governing status and the end of the U.N. Trusteeship Agreement.
-FSR The American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) has hired former Bank of Hawaii official John Marsh as its new business and finance manager. ASPA has also hired former assistant attorney general for American Samoa Marc Roy as its new acting chief executive officer. -FS Former parliamentarian and chief custom officer Bateriki Baare has been appointed land commissioner for South Tarawa, the national capital of Kiribati. He replaces Tiriata Betero who resigned in February 2005. -BB Tourism Minister Piho Rua has appointed business entrepreneur George Ellis the new chairman of the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation. Ellis takes over from Don Beer, Jr. who has served two terms since 2001. Ellis, a former tourism minister himself, is expected to confirm a new chief executive-currently Chris Wong, who has reapplied for the post. -UKM Papua New Guinea beat Fiji by 30 runs in the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division 2 cricket tournament final in Malaysia to put them a step away from a first World Cup appearance. PNG's 176 proved a handful for Fiji with Arua Uda and man-of-the-match Jamie Brazier leading the way. The win secured the 12th and final place at the ICC Trophy in Ireland in July-the top five sides will qualify for the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007. -AR Benedict Rikin was sworn in Feb. 15 by Yap Governor Robert Ruecho to head the Department of Public Works and Transportation. When Ruecho' took office in 2003, his first cabinet nomination approved by the legislature was for Francis Faney to continue heading PW&T. But just four months into his new term, Faney resigned to become assistant general manager with the local utility company, Yap State Public Service Corporation. Governor Ruecho's nomination of Benjamin Yorormad to fill the post never mustered enough legislative support for confirmation and the department had been without a director for almost two years. -BG The head of the University of the South Pacific's Institute of Applied Science, Professor William Aalbersberg, has been selected to receive the 2005 Walter B. Jones Memorial and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Excellence Award for Coastal and Ocean Resource Management. The award recognizes Aalbersberg's costal conservation service for the people and biodiversity of Fiji and the Pacific Islands. -SM Sitiveni Weleilakeba has been reappointed as chairman of the Fiji Visitors Bureau. Joining him on the board are Air Pacific's Josephine Yee Joy, Tour Manager Fiji's Darmend Goundar, Beachcomber Island Resort & Cruises general manager Akanisi Dreunimisimisi, Pacific Destinationz Fiji managing director James Sowane and the Roko Tui Macuata Ratu Aisea Katonivere. -SM The Yap State Legislature in late February confirmed the nominations of Bill Acker and Laura T. Ngaden to serve on the Yap Visitors Bureau board of directors. Vitus Foneg is the current acting chairman of the YVB Board, Al Ganang is treasurer, Debbie Alphonso is the board secretary and James Limar is a member. -BG The New South Wales Supreme Court has found Papua New Guinea rugby league star Marcus Bai liable over a spear tackle that ended the career of former New Zealand rugby league player Jarrod McCracken. In the landmark case, presiding judge Robert Hulme ruled that Bai and former Melbourne Storm teammate Stephen Kearney tackled McCracken with intention to cause him injury during an Australian National Rugby League game in 2000. Bai and Kearney are currently playing in the English Super League. McCracken sued for $A750,000 (US$593,062). A separate hearing to determine damages is set for August. -AR Papua New Guinea's longest serving former politician Sir Peter Lus was given a K500,000 ($US156,250) golden handshake by the PNG government for "services to politics." Lus, the former member for Maprik for over 38 years, lost the 2002 general elections to present PNG Works Minister Gabriel Kapris. Critics described the PNG government's gesture as a waste of public funds and say it could have been spent on improving social services in Maprik. -AR Merle Kelai, Matson Navigation's long-time vice president for community relations, retired earlier this year. Kelai started with Matson in 1963, and played a key and visible role in the company's significant service to the Marshall Islands that started nearly 30 years ago. "He's been an ambassador to the Marshall Islands," says Ramsey Reimers, chief executive officer of Robert Reimers Enterprises, the Matson agent in Majuro. "We'll miss him." -GJ American Samoan teenager Miti Maugaotega Jr., 19, must serve a life sentence plus 140 years in jail without the possibility of parole. It is one of the longest terms ever meted out in Hawaii. In May last year, a circuit judge in Honolulu sentenced Maugaotega to serve life without parole for of shooting another man in Honolulu during a botched burglary and 10 consecutive life sentences for other violent burglaries including one in which he raped a 55-year-old woman. -FS In Memoriam Dr. Jose T. Villagomez, a prominent resident of the Northern Marianas and well-known throughout the Pacific region, died February 8 on Saipan after a long illness. Villagomez, 72, served as director of the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services for eight years, from 1982-1990. He also chaired the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association (PIHOA) in the 1980s. -FSR Contributors: Frank Whitman, Berna Gorong, Fili Sagapolutele, Batiri Bataua, Samantha Magick, Nancy Chism, Frank S. Rosario, Ulamila Kurai Marrie, Giff Johnson, Alex Rheeney and Afamasaga Toleanoa. |
