Your watching the "Weekend Report" for February 13, 2009 (requires Quicktime 7.4)

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

News:

The Toribiong Presidency promised US transparency in government and on Wednesday took another step in that direction.   The President convened a panel which consisted of Compact Chief Negotiator Joshua Koshiba, along with the High Chiefs, Ministers, Economists, Lawyers, and Lobbyists, for the purpose of informing the entire Republic about the status of the Compact Review.  

The review comes at a time when the U.S. is in a major economic crisis, which likely will result in more domestic spending and less foreign aid.

There was some shocking news:   The last US payment under the Compact is only eight months away on Sept. 30, 2009.   So if Palau does not convince the US to provide additional money, according to US economists the Compact Trust Fund could have a ZERO balance as early as 2015. This was explained by economist Kevin O'Keefe.

On an optimistic note, this is what UN Ambassador Stu Beck told the audience:   

Ironically, the President signed as his first law one that hikes the OEK salaries up to $50,000 a year.   This will cost taxpayers $120,000 per month for the senators 29 lawmakers as there were four additional senators elected this year.

On the other hand, the President has stated in a letter to the Speaker of the House that it is possible, indeed it is likely, that the government will have to cease hiring and even layoff employees in order to stay within its means.

This week saw the swearing in of all Ministers, except for two.

It was an especially eventful week for former Governor of Peleliu and now the Minister of Public Infrastructure, Industries, and Commerce.   On Tuesday, he passed his title of Governor to Legislature Speaker Kalbesang Soalablai in a moving ceremony that some have described as teary.   He was elected four times to serve as Peleliu's Governor and on Thursday, he was joined by close family and friends, to take his oath of office at the capital.

  This week the President, a founding member of the Palau Chamber of Commerce, spoke with the Chamber about his vision for more investor friendly laws.   Many in the audience had to stand as his talk drew a big crowd.   He asked for the Chamber's support for a bill that he authored which opens up Palau's restricted businesses to foreign investors and abolishes the current F.   There was a hearing on Friday with the House Committee for public comments.   At the hearing, the Chamber endorsed the bill, but asked that the House consider revising certain specific areas such as the minimum investment and the penalty section and to add a section to protect investors should laws be later enacted that restrict the operations of a business.

The controversy around shark tagging continues.   The Koror State Governor, in a letter to Mandy Eptison of NECO, explained that Koror State issued a permit to conduct shark tagging to learn information about shark migration and other information that will help to PROTECT the shark population.   Mrs. Etpison joined other dive operators and guides in the circulation of a petition protesting the study and the devices that have been placed in most popular dive sites.    The Governor explained that the research was being conducted by a renowned specialist and it was being conducted at dive sites because of the higher shark population.   The Governor's letter did not address her concern that the method of tagging the sharks could make them more aggressive and perhaps ultimately lead to a shark attack against a tourist.  

The ten-day grace period for those who were unlawfully in possession of government property has ended.   Some of the properties which were listed as missing have been returned and an inventory is now being taken by the Bureau of Public Safety.

The U.S. post office hiked the price to mail a letter. The price of a first-class stamp will rise from 42 cents to 44 cents on May 11.   That's two cents worth.   Palau will increase its rates by the summertime, but the amount of the increase is unknown.

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