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~Legislative Package co-signed.~

PHILIPSBURG:---  In a momentous event, guests and online audiences gathered to witness the Minister of Justice co-sign the Justice legislative package. The official signing of the National Decrees was hosted at the Government Administration Building on Wednesday, December 27, 2023. The signing of the National Decree containing General Measures for the Legal Position of officers with police tasks and the new police salary scales, along with the National Decree to enact the legal position and also enact the approved Function Book.

The journey to this significant milestone began in September 2020, when the Minister embarked on the journey of completing the legislative package Read more

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~ St. Maarten still looking towards debt cancellation for COVID loans. ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said in response to questions regarding the proposal of the Dutch government to grant St. Maarten, Curacao, and Aruba loans with conditions to bail out Ennia that the government of St. Maarten will still continue to fight for the interest of its people.
Asked if the government believes that the people of St Read more

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SIMPSON BAY:--- Four (4) parliamentarians graciously accepted an invitation to tour the construction site of the Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) on Friday, February 17, 2023.

The tour served as an integral component of the Public Outreach Campaign by the PJIA Corporate Communication and Project Management Unit (PMU), to offer the necessary stakeholder engagement by way of information disclosure.

Readily available to take the invited tour were the President of Parliament, MP Cookie Bijlani, MP Angelique Roumou, MP George Pantophlet, MP Ludmilla Duncan, and support staff.

The revised timeline, the phased-planned approach, and the cost overview of the construction project were among the many factors presented by the Airport Chief, Mr Read more

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~Removal from Chair is not gender-based --- Marlin~

 PHILIPSBURG: --- The majority of 8 members of parliament voted out Grisha Heyliger Marten from the chair of parliament on Thursday during a public meeting. The national alliance members of parliament made it clear that their decision to remove Marten Heyliger has nothing to do with gender but mostly because of the way Heyliger Marten treated her coalition members Read more

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Pop Job On The Line Again Next Week Thursday.

PHILIPSBURG:--- It seems that the current President of Parliament United Peoples(UP) Grisha Heyliger-Marten will have to deal with her job being on the line on Thursday, October 27. According to a schedule sent out by parliament on Friday, a public meeting will handle the agenda points, Incoming documents, Ratification of the decision list of the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultations (IPKO) held from September 27-30, 2022 in the Hague, the Netherlands (IS/048/2022-2023 dated September 30, 2022) and Thank the Chair for her services thus far and relieve her from her duties (IS/026/2022-2023 dated September 20, 2022)
The latter agenda point was requested by MP W.V Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- As the motion on no confidence facing the Minister of VROMI Egbert Jurendy Doran and the return of Member of Parliament William Marlin for the continuation of the meeting of parliament Read more

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Negotiations To Broaden Coalition Ongoing.

~ 4 MPS off-island signed prior to leaving. ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Some members of parliament namely those from the current National Alliance and United Peoples Party (NA/UP) coalition continue to meet in order to strengthen their coalition after MP Solange Ludmilla Duncan resigned from the National Alliance.
The formation meetings began after an urgent meeting of parliament was called on Wednesday, June 29th, 2022, where the Minister of VROMI Egbert Jurendy Doran was invited to discuss the most recent report from the Ombudsman Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Solange Ludmilla Duncan declared herself an Independent member of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon and has resigned from the National Alliance Political party that is led by Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs.
Duncan said that the party on which her father served no longer shares her core values since she has been a civil servant for a number of years.
It was anticipated that MP Duncan would have left the national alliance since they seemed to have drifted apart.
The Parliament of St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday, May 18th, the Le Sommet Foundation and the Haitian Association of Sint Maarten (HASMA)-inaugurated their office during a grand Haitian Flag Day celebration at the Wifold building.

Celebrating this year's Haitian Flag Day In the presence of various community leaders, invited guests, and political and Government officials, the le Sommet foundation and HASMA officially introduced its board members.

"Tonight, we are proud to introduce the board of the Haitian Association of Sint Maarten Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On Thursday 21st April 2022 Member of Parliament Ludmila Duncan submitted a proposal for action to Parliament two days after hosting the first-ever expert panel discussion on the Charter of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The MP has deemed the event a success.

As Chair of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization, Duncan initiated the idea of hosting a high-level roundtable in 2021. With multi-partisan approval, a subcommittee comprising MP George Pantophlet, MP Raeyhon Peterson, and suspended MP Claudius Buncamper proposed several themes and constitutional experts Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The ONE SXM Association met with the Ad Hoc Committee for Electoral Reform of the Parliament of St. Maarten on Tuesday, March 1 to submit a draft resolution calling for a consultative referendum within two years, or latest simultaneously with the next parliamentary election.
The ONE SXM Association implored the Parliament of the southern part or Dutch territory of the Caribbean island of St. Martin, to make use of its constitutional authority to convene the referendum with the sole question of Independence: Yes, or No?
Giving the presentation was Dr Read more

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Pantophlet Lauds Van Huffelen For Honouring Her Word, Giving Hope.

PHILIPSBURG:--- National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) George Pantophlet on Sunday lauded the new Dutch government and in particular State Secretary for Home Affairs and Digitization Alexandra van Huffelen for keeping her promise giving the people of St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet is asking the question as to why it is being said that passing the Budget without the approval of the Kingdom Council of Ministers is illegal.

Pantophlet is not negating the fact that every Member of Parliament has to vote his/her conscience. "We all took an oath to do so. The meeting in which the Budget was discussed happened in accordance with article 34.2 of the rules of order which states: "As soon as the attendance list is signed by at least half plus one, the President opens the meeting Read more

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Our Budget, Our Reality.

PHILIPSBURG:--- When 2022 was brought in with many fireworks and festive activities all around the island I wondered if this would be the year of recovery or if this would be another year of drama for the country. Will we allow our future to determine our present decisions and actions, or must our present time take precedence at the expense of our future? Based on our experience it would seem as though we as a country are incapable of creating a situation in which we do not suffer at present while actively enhancing the prospective future.

I believe some good news thus far for the Caribbean islands was the departure of State Secretary Raymond Knops whose own party told him there was no place for him in the new government moving forward Read more

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A Realistic Decision.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet disagrees with MP Sarah Wescot-Williams' remarks in her article Stop the cat and mouse game. MP Pantophlet insists that this is not a game Read more

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What Is The Fuss?

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet is asking the people of St. Maarten to allow him this brief distraction from his quest for debt cancellation, to address a very serious matter.

MP Pantophlet thought he misread the paragraph of an article appearing in The Daily Herald newspaper on Thursday entitled Sarah: Civil Code does not contain amendments made by Parliament Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet is insistent that debt cancellation is the only viable and reasonable option for St Maarten and the other islands in the Dutch Caribbean. The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten in its article of Monday, August 2, 2021, entitled Multi-annual plan deemed crucial for balanced Budget was clear when it stated in its CBSC 2020 Annual Report and he quotes that in both countries the current budget deficit widened significantly in 2020 compared to 2019, due to decline in government revenues combined with an increase in expenditures end of quote Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---  On Monday, July 12, 2021, through Wednesday, July 14, 2021, the Honorable Minister Anna E. Richardson hosted a Conference commemorating Justice Week 2021 at the Simpson Bay Resort. The conference served as an opportunity for each department and external partners of the Ministry to discuss topics related to their operations which included their legal basis, year plans, the budget, challenges, plan of actions aimed at improving the functionality and effectiveness of the same Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet extends his deepest sympathy and condolences to the people of Haiti. The recent assassination of the President of Haiti Jovenel Moise is a stark reminder of the instability that has plagued the Caribbean island for decades or might he add for more than two centuries. Haiti while rich in mineral resources and said to be the poorest country in the hemisphere is rife with turmoil Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet has tabled a motion during the 2021 budget debate that aims at offering considerable relief for the Country of Sint Maarten in the form of debt cancellation. The Motion calls on the Government of Sint Maarten in their discussions with the Dutch Government to make it a priority to request debt cancellation as this is the only recourse that will help Country Sint Maarten to get out of this debt and to execute its social and economic duties as it relates to the citizens of the country Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet says that the United Nations General Assembly met some 65 years ago in several sessions. The discussions related to whether the Netherlands were permitted to cease providing information under Article 73 e of the charter of the United Nations. According to the Member of Parliament, what was also highly disputed during those meetings were the Kingdom Charter and specifically its effects on the then territories of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles.

The countries, though having the same documents in hand still came up with different interpretations Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The abuse of the short-term contract/ labor agreement better known as the 6-month contract has been disputed for years and National Alliance Member of Parliament, George Pantophlet in his role as legislator, is ready to tackle this head-on with the support of the coalition Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet says that he must applaud the Minister of Finance Richard Gibson and his cabinet for making it possible to have consecutive balanced budgets for 3 years, no small feat and also presenting it on time to Governor drs Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On July 1st, Parliament went on a four-week recess and will resume on Monday, July 31st. In December/January upcoming, Parliament will also take a two-week recess. I hope that our MPs are aware of the fact that a parliamentary recess is not a holiday and that they can be called back to work during their recess.

The website of the Dutch Second Chamber or Parliament describes its recess as follows: “during the recess periods, the Second Chamber does not convene. Members of the Chamber can study various files and documents and prepare themselves for the next session of meetings Read more

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