Your watching the "Weekend Report" for February 6, 2009 (requires Quicktime 7.4)

Below is the text vesion of the weekend report with headlines from around Palau and the Pacific.

OTV sends its most sincere congratulations to the newly confirmed Ministers:

Minister of State, Sandra Pierantozzi.  Ms. Pierantozzi has been a pioneer for women in Palau, holding the highest offices, including Senator, Minister of Health, and Vice-President.

Maski Emesiochl who has been confirmed as the Minister of Education.  He is credited with a life-time of achievements in education, including the publication of the Palau-English dictionary, most recently he represented PREL.

Jackson Ngiraingas as Minister of Public Infrastructure, Industries and Commerce.  He has been elected as Peleliu Governor a record four times.  He is also holds a major in Economics and has been a long standing advocate of foreign investment and increased trade to both his home state and all of Palau. 

Former Koror State Governor Johnny Gibbons has been appointed the Minister of Justice.

The Senate convened in a midnight session and again voted on the nomination of Scott Yano for Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs.  His nomination has been rejected.

Controversy continues to swirl around the appointment of Ministerial candidate Youlsau Bells.  Her nomination was deferred and now referred to the Committee on Tourism Development chaired by Alfonso Diaz.  The Credentials Chairman who is also Alfonso Diaz continues to claim the letter from the University of Pennsylvania is a fake despite the fact that it has been authenticated by several sources including Senator Eledui.  OTV spoke with letters author Janet Marie Ansert at the University and confirmed that she is the Assistant Registrar and that she did write the letter stating the degrees Ms. Bells gave to the Senate are fake and that she never attended the University.  On his radio show Diaz stated that the degrees didn't matter but did not talk about the seriousness of presenting false documents to the senate and lying to the senate about ones experience.  The credentials chair has refused to investigate the matter and stated that he will disregard documents that discredit her education.

The President has announced some new members of his cabinet:  Augustine Mesebeluu is his Legislative Liason, Ngirai Tmetuchal is his Special Assistant, and Haruo Wilter is his Special Assistant on financial matters within the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Jean van Keulen is the special consultant and grant writer for US federal grants on education, Moses Uludong is the Ombudsman.

Under consideration at the House of Delegates is a bill to abolish the Foreign Investment Board.  The bill's intent is to open up foreign investment in a manner that will be transparent and will provide investors with a bright line rule of how to become a foreign business in Palau.  Already a Korean businessman has contacted the OEK, inviting them to Korea, to tour his casino operations.  He claims to want to invest $30 million in opening up a casino facility in Palau.

Bon Jour ... which means good day.  If you hear French being spoken around town, the French Survivor crew are arriving with production to begin at the end of the month. This is the third Survivor show to be filmed in Plu, Merci.

Next week the compact team will meet here in Palau.  The President is hoping to save travel expenses by encouraging the compact meetings to take place on island. The team is led by Chief Compact Negotiator Joshua Koshiba whose has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.  Others who will attend the meeting are the President of Palau, Mike Chanin, Palau's lawyer for the Compact, UN Representative to Palau, Stuart Beck, Ambassador Hersey Kyota, and Billy Kuareti. 

The newly appointed Minister of Finance Vice-president Mariur has expressed his concern about the government's financial shortfall and has already directed government departments to stop acquiring equipment, such as cars, boats, and engines.  He also asked all Ministries to spend only 90% of their allocated budget in an effort to conserve.  He has also noted that private businesses continue to struggle and close putting additional strain on the economy. 

The Minister of Finance has also ordered Eldebechel ra Ngarablod, a men's group in Peleliu headed by Harou Esang, to return the $150k grant money from Turkey. The grant was to construct a gymnasium with solar lighting.  Instead the Former Minister of State had allotted 150k of a 300k for the men's group to remodel an existing basketball court but the Minister of Finance found that the grant could not be used for this.

President Toribiong added two new board members to the PIRIC Board:  Rteruich Katsushi Skang and Vernice Yuzi.

The Bureau of Public Safety has informed the public this week that certain government properties are still missing.  They urge people who may possess or have knowledge of anyone who possess any items belonging to the government to turn it in to the police department as soon as possible.  Director Norvert Yano says people who turn in items before the end of the ten-day grace period, which is February 12th, will not be questioned or charged.  Action will however be taken against those who turn in government property after the grace period and without proper documents.  Since the release of the notice Director Yano says that people have responded by turning in items and by calling crime stoppers.  The public may call crime stoppers at 488-8477 or Director Yano at 488-2423 or 775-7939 for more information

A former employee of Palau International Coral Reef Center or PICRC has been criminally charged for allegedly embezzling over 48 thousand dollars from the center.  Rhonda Jonathan was charged with grand larceny, cheating and embezzlement after CEO Fabian Iyar reported a theft at PICRC on January 23, 2009.  Ms. Jonathan appeared in court last week and plead not guilty to the charges; however, the affidavit from Public Safety stated that Ms. Jonathan admitted to PICRC executives that she had indeed taken the money for personal use and that she planned to leave Palau prior to her arrest.  The alleged embezzlement took place over the course of nine months in 2008.

The public should be on guard as theft crimes continue each week.  Last week a woman's purse was stolen as she sat atop of her vehicle and an unidentified male approached her car, reached in and snatched her purse then ran to a vehicle parked near by and drove off.  Later the police pulled over the vehicle the suspect was in, but its unknown whether the purse was ever recovered or if the suspect was apprehended.  Other crimes last week include a burglar who broke a glass door to a restaurant in Idid and stole several bottles of hard liquor and beer.  There are no leads on suspects and the case remains under investigation. 

Last weekend there were reports of four traffic incidents.  On Friday night there was a two-car accident on the compact road near Ngaraard. Luckily, no fatalities occurred however a passenger was injured.  Then on Saturday night an unknown driver ran their car into a concrete fence and fled the scene.  Finally, on Sunday one man was cited for driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving in Airai and another man was cited for negligent driving near the Landmark hotel in Koror.  Let's hope there are no reports this weekend.  Drive safe and sober and watch out for pedestrian.

SIG SEEDS OF PROMISE mea Rotary Club a mo tmak er a chelchchal el rak  el olngeseu er a rengalek el ngara 10 el mo 14 a rekrir  lokiu program lomekedong er ngii el kmo ng AFTER 3 MENTOR PROGRAM. Tia el program a mo melasm el mengeroid er a rengalek er a reua- Omelim el rrom me a dirrek el ua substance abuse. Me ke de congratualate er  tia el beches el community based el partnership e a OTV a mo mellemolem el ouchais er buai el kirel a programs el uai tiang el ngii a sebechel benefit er ngii a ngelkem.

A Bureau er a Agriculture a mle announce el kmo ngar ngii a siasing er a klou el bersoech el biltik er ngii er a chelsel Belau. Ngka el klou el bersoech a le biltik er ngii el di mle cheleblad. Ng diak a klou el  bersoech  el uaisiei el ngar chelsel belau...Aika el siasing a luruul a chad er a computer.

Muut el tang a rechadal a Bureau er a Agriculture me a Palau conservation society a kmal lolengit er a buai me lak lobes el kmo a Monday el ngii a Febuary 9 2009, e ng te mo melai er a pet animal census el mo omuchel er a chelsel a Oreor er a hang er a Ngermid.

This past Monday football fans gathered around the various bars and café's to watch Superbowl 43 with the Pitsburg Steelers taking the trophy with a score of 27 to 23.

This weeks strange story is from India where a man has married a dog.
in a traditional Hindu ceremony s a 33-year-old Indian farmer named Selvakumar, married his dog to atone for stoning two other dogs to 15 years ago.  After suffering a string of bad luck the man turned to an astrologer who told him he was cursed by the spirits of the dogs he had killed and that He could undo the curse only if he married a dog and live with it.

Kelemobes el kmo Valentines day a mermang e kmal betook a specials er aikal betook el kombalii er Belau el uai spa- package er a el ngara MEYUNS me a se el Valentines dinner buffet er a TAJ... Dirrek kelemobes el kmo rengalek er a tourism club er a PCC a morngii a VALENTINES CONCERT er tir el morngii  er  a PCC Cafeteria er a Friday el ngii a Febuary the 13th e mo betok bekbedengel a games me a prizez  me kelemobes el mong

This is a beta test site, please be patient as we improve your viewing experience.

please send your comments to info@oceaniatv.net

All content is the property of Roll 'em Productions, international and domestic copyrights apply. viewer ship is for personnel use only and may not reproduced or broadcast in any way without express written consent or Roll 'em Productions. Please contact us for additional information or permission rollem@email.com.