by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Recently it appears that about a handful of groups had been created to bring respective stakeholders together to share ideas and solutions on several government issues such as education, finances and the military buildup. And although well-intended, are they being followed through?

The Government of Guam faces several challenges and being short staffed doesn't help. According to governor's director of communications Troy Torres, the Calvo Administration's slew of commissions and task forces has helped leaders at Adelup understand the issues facing our island. "So it was important to put together these groups that are able to focus on certain things, focus on the big ticket items that need to be taken care of," he said.

And at the top of that list is no doubt the Department of Education, which Torres says the governor may not have any control over but has created the Education Task Force in order to ensure children are being educated and that issues are addressed such as new schools, facility improvements and learning resources. "And this task force was a way to build more resources into this project not just the governor's chief education advisor or any of the policy advisors up here, but to bring together members of the board education and the education community," he said.

The Education Task Force was empanelled in February and Torres says several of its subcommittees have had over 40 sessions to come up with their recommendations on improving education. However, some have raised issue that although groups like the Education Task Force start off with such great promise and hope, it appears to lose steam after being created and aren't followed through.

Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz believes the intent in forming these groups is to gain focus on the issues and work in the same direction; unfortunately, it's not happening. "They are well intended, it's just whether or not you're going to have a leader who's going to follow-through 2011 and you need to follow-through on some of these things otherwise we're all disjointed," he said.

Cruz is most concerned about the Fiscal Responsibility and Tax Refunds Commission and the Procurement Advisory Council. He serves as the vice chair for the latter and has written several measures relative to the procurement process. The fiscal responsibility team has only met twice and the PAC has yet to meet since it became law in October last year.

He added, "And I really do think that I've come up with several recommendations on how we can meet the $43 million shortfall - unfortunately it hasn't been addressed by the Commission or by the Administration. So I wrote to the governor that by today, if you don't have the Commission meet, I'm going to reintroduce all the legislation on procurement that I've introduced in the past three legislatures, and we'll do it from the floor."

The Fiscal Responsibility Team was created to provide bipartisan solutions to the 20-year old structural imbalance of the General Fund whereas the PAC was set to address issues procurement such as protests. Torres meanwhile defends although some if these groups may not have been meeting consistently, it doesn't mean they haven't been making a difference. He adds that the task forces and commissions aren't for show and if you look at some of the results from paying out tax refund to stabilizing the government's finances, it will show they are effective and serious.

"Obviously what shows is the hard work that has gone in all these months to improving the finances and actually affecting people's lives," he said.

The Education Task Force meanwhile has not set its next public meeting, nor has the Deficit Elimination Committee. The Spending Cuts Task Force's recommendations meanwhile are due on June 1 and the Guam First Commission will be meeting in the next week or two.

KUAM News learned from Procurement Advisory Council chairman John Unpingco that the group met for the first time last Friday and plan to hold its next meeting this Friday at ten o'clock in the morning at the Governor's Office. Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz tells KUAM News his office was told last week's meeting was canceled and wasn't even told about this Friday's meeting.

Adelup also issued a press release about last week's meeting and announcing members who sits on the Procurement Advisory Council as well as announcing this Friday's meeting.