fbpx

2022 Top 10 Richest People in Northern Mariana Islands

5. Froilan Tenorio

Froilan Cruz Tenorio is a Northern Mariana Islander politician as the member of CNMI Democratic Party, and also was the fourth elected Governor of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

 

Elected in 1993, he served one term, leaving office in 1998. During his governorship and most of his political career, Tenorio was a member of the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands, which was not then affiliated with the American Democratic Party. However, he later switched his affiliation to the Covenant Party.

In May 2009, Tenorio announced that he had joined the Covenant Party and was allied with Governor Fitial. Rather than seeking the gubernatorial post again, Tenorio ran for a seat in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives, hoping to represent Precinct 1.

Tenorio ran on a platform of increased government investment in tourism, reform of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, and economic growth through job creation and increased purchasing power for residents, favoring job creation through new construction projects.

 He later said in an interview that if elected he would seek to restore the earned income credit, an anti-poverty program implemented by his administration in the 1990s, to increase employment and purchasing power. Tenorio won the election and was subsequently selected for the post of Speaker of the House.

 

4. Arnold I. Palacios

Arnold Indalecio Palacios is a Northern Mariana Islands politician and a member of the Republican Party. He currently represents Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands Senate.

 

Palacios is a former Speaker of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives. He was sworn in on January 14, 2008, as the Speaker of the House’s 16th Legislature. He represented Election District 3 in the House, which encompasses portions of Saipan and the Northern Islands.

Palacios was the running mate of gubernatorial candidate Heinz Hofschneider in the 2009 election. If elected, Palacios would have become the next Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Palacios is married to Wella Sablan Palacios and they have four children – Arnold Gerard, Nicole, Tiana and Eric.