37 volunteers from Fiesta Saipan and Saipan Grand Hotel cleaned the Mt. Tapochao area last October 22.

Tango suppported the first and only annual U.S. film festival in the Western Pacific. From the official Guam Film Festival website, “The mission of the Guam International Film Festival is to elevate and promote Guam as a unique cultural destination for leisure, arts, entertainment and business through its people, facilities and hospitality while providing opportunities for employment and local businesses to flourish through
international cinema and industry related businesses.” independent films from around the world were shown at the Micronesia Stadium Theatres last September 30- October 2.

A 27-strong Saipan Grand Hotel delegation cleaned the areas of Saipan Grand Hotel to Sugar Dock (roadside) and Sugar Dock to Saipan Grand Hotel (beachside) in an hour and 30 minutes for the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup.

 The yield from this September 17 clean up is approximately 150 to 200 lbs of trash.

Once again, community members from CNMI supported an annual initiative to protect the ocean by participating in the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup.  As in the previous year, Fiesta Saipan and the Adopt-a-Pavilion team were among the groups that took part in this major two-day cleanup event.

On the second day of the 2011 ICC (September 17), 41 volunteers from Fiesta Saipan focused on cleaning up Makaka Beach and a part of Beach Road.  The Fiesta group collected 35 bags of trash, which approximately weighed 175 lbs.

At about the same time, the Adopt-a-Pavilion team cleaned up the shorelines of 13 Fishermen to the Garapan Fishing Group.  The group was able to gather a total of 20 bags or approximately 100 lbs. of trash.

On their part, the Coastal Resource Management, along with the Department of Environmental Quality, retrieved and properly disposed of the trash and recycling collected from the cleanup on Saipan.

Ten years after the Quality Management System was put in place at POI Aviation, POI continues to improve their systems and processes as proven by another successful ISO 9001:2008 surveillance audit. Held last September 1-3, 2011, the company passed without any major or minor non-conformities.

Chef Melquiades de Ramos from Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan recently received the Saipan Next Top Chef 2011,

The event was sponsored by the nonprofit organization, Empty Vessel Ministry Foundation (EVMF), which aims to meet the needs of poor children and families in need in Saipan, Kenya, Philippines and Bangladesh.

Rose Smith, EVMF Director, says that the award won by Melquiades is a special title. She further thanked him for helping them raise more funds in the street market by asking $1 for every picture taken with the Chef.

Rose also expressed appreciation to the management of Fiesta for their support.

The Saipan Next Top Chef event was a fundraiser competition for Empty Vessel to raise funds to provide school supplies to 500 students this coming year in Saipan and also to support their international programs.

Team members from Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan were all geared up last August 27 for the 5th Makaka Beach cleanup. There were 43 volunteers who joined the cleanup. Their efforts resulted to the collection of 30 bags of trash, weighing approximately180 lbs. of waste and debris.

As a token for the efforts of the volunteers, the cleanup was concluded with a calisthenics activity and a sumptuous breakfast spread.

Century Tours recently opened new sales offices in Shenzhen and Shenyang to address the needs of its growing markets in the South and North regions of China.  Following this, the company also moved its headquarters to Shanghai.

According to reports, the company has catered to the travel requirements of over one hundred thousand Chinese tourists.

The company’s travel packages include the neighboring islands of Rota, CNMI and Guam, USA.  It is currently working on launching new destinations such as Palau and Bali, Indonesia among others.

For the 2nd time, Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan hosted the Fiesta Beach Soccer 5-on-5 Tournament.  The event was held at Fiesta’s beachfront on August 6.

The tournament is a one-day event that served as an avenue for eight teams to engage in a healthy competition.  The participating teams were:  Fiesta Team, Fan Chew, Noonan, Hyatt Beach Club, White Hot, Royal Bengal Tigers, Just 4 Fun & Ahn Yong.

The teams who took part in the competition vied for the championship prize worth $500 while a cash prize worth $300 was given to the 2nd runner-up.  Meanwhile, third and fourth placers also received consolation prizes from the event’s sponsors.  Ahn Yong came in 1st place, Fan Chew came in 2nd, Noonan came in 3rd and was followed by Just 4 Fun in the 4th place.

Event sponsors that contributed largely to the success of this year’s tournament were:  Fiesta Resort, Grand Hotel, Tan Holdings, Take Care, D&Q, DOCOMO, Rota Water, JWS, National Office Supplies, Island Apparel, Pacific Saipan, Toyota, Taro Sue, AON Insurance, Yaong Corp., Luen Fung, Mobil Oil Marianas and JC Tenorio Ent.

Good news greets CIC in August as A.M. Best Co. gave it a slightly higher Financial Stability Rating (FSR) and Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) before the end of July. Accordingly, CIC Guam’s FSR went up to B++ from the previous B+ rating that it received from A.M. Best Co. last year. Meanwhile, its ICR has also improved to bbb from its previous rate of bbb-. “The ratings for CIC Guam recognize the significant improvement in the company’s Best Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) stemming from the capital infusion from its immediate holding entity, Tan Holdings Corporation (THC). To support the business growth of CIC Guam, Tan Holdings infused fresh capital in June 2010, which doubled the company’s paid-up capital and subsequently significantly improved the company’s risk-based capitalization. ” –A.M. Best Co. Simultaneously, the ratings company also graded CIC Saipan with a B+ FSR and an ICR of bbb-. These ratings attest to the stability of both CIC outlets in Guam and Saipan. Citing the results of its own report, the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating group also acknowledged that the outcome of the ratings are in conjunction with the “prudent investment strategy and efforts by management to enhance both companies’ enterprise risk management.”

On July 16, POI Aviation celebrated its 20^th anniversary.  The celebration was held at the Seaside Hall of the Saipan Grand Hotel.

The much-awaited celebration of the company’s 20^th year in the ground handling industry was attended by the members of the POI Aviation team as well as the management team of POI Aviation and Tan Holdings.

Among the highlights of the gathering was the announcement of the service awardees for 20 years, presented by Tan Holdings Senior VP Eli Arago and VP for Logistics and Business Development Ivan Quichocho.

Congratulations to POI Aviation!

Expecting a night of excitement and fun, a zealous crowd comprised of 500 participants gathered at the American Memorial Park on July 8 for a free-admissions movie screening of the film “Despicable Me”.

This recently-held “movie in the park” experience, the first time on the island, was made possible through the collaboration of the United Services Organization (USO) and the Tan Siu Lin Foundation.

USO is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 140 centers worldwide.

Lt. Gov Eloy Inos and his grandchildren, Tan Holdings President Jerry Tan, USO Director Leigh Graham and USO Center Operations Manager Vic Tano were all in attendance during the event to make some short remarks to the crowd.

Volunteers from Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan and Century Hotel joined hands in preserving the cleanliness of the shores of the Makaka Beach on June 25 as they held another beach cleanup.

There were reportedly 60 volunteers who joined the cleanup activity.  The collected bags of trash totaled 34.

Complete with a slide, a see-saw, a swing set and a set of monkey bar, Tan Holdings proudly unveiled the children’s playground that it has provided for the community members of Susupe in Saipan through a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on June 24.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by Tan Holdings President Jerry Tan himself.  For this event, Tan was joined by other Tan Holdings executives as well as some esteemed government officials.

Prior to the ceremony, the executives helped prepare for the official opening of the playground by conducting a general cleanup and paint job in the area.

On their part, the government officials expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the efforts of Tan Holdings.

In response, Tan said that, “we at Tan Holdings have a long-term commitment to helping the Division of Parks and Recreation in the upkeep of the Susupe Regional Beach Park so that the community can continue to enjoy it.”

Two team members of the Fiesta Resort Guam were among several industry employees recognized by the Guam Visitors Bureau for Excellence in Tourism.

Perla Chua, Accounting Analyst, received the HERO [Hospitality Employees aRe Outstanding] Award, and Yoshiki Jimmy Sato, Guest Relations Agent, received the Rookie of the Year Award.

Both awards honor employees that demonstrate consistent exemplary performance in the course of the job and exhibits pride in rendering service.

The Guam Visitors Bureau Excellence in Tourism Awards were presented on May 27, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Guam.

On June 11, Saturday, Tan Holdings President Jerry Tan led the opening ceremony of the Tan Siu Lin Sports Complex.

Boasting of a good sports activities’ site that has a basketball court, a badminton court and a futsal court, Tan said that this new facility was built as a response to the constant postponement of games due to bad weather.

Joining Tan at the ceremony were his twin brother Raymond Tan, their father Chairman Tan Siu Lin, NMASA President Michael White, Barrigada Mayor Jessie B. Palican, Saipan Mayor Donald Flores and Rep. Edmund Villagomez.

The Tan Siu Lin Sports Complex is located in Middle Road, Saipan.

Team members of Tan Holdings and its affiliates were one with the rest of the companies, organizations and individuals in Guam who gathered at the George Washington High School Field on May 27 to make the Relay for Life 2011 a successful event.

Relay for Life is an annual event which aims to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.  This event is supported by the Guam community in its quest to support cancer patients, raise awareness against the disease and to look back and reminisce about loved ones who died because of cancer.

According to reports, 75 teams were formed for this year’s Relay for Life event.  Meanwhile, the chosen theme for this year is “carnival of colors”.

Sponsored annually by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce (SCC), this year’s Corporate Challenge was held on May 29 at the Minachom Atdao.

Fiesta Resort joined the fundraising activity by engaging in a friendly competition with the other teams, namely:  Coca Cola/Glimpses Saipan, DFS Saipan Limited, Docomo Pacific Saipan, TakeCare/FHP, First Hawaiian Bank, G4S Security Services, IT&E, Marianas Pacific Distributors, Inc., Marianas Cable Vision, Microl Corporation, Pacific Islands Club, Delta Management Corporation and Triple J Corporation.

With the support of the event’s 14 participating companies, SCC is proud to report that they were able to raise $4,200 for educational endeavors.

The proceeds of the event will be directed to the SCC’s scholarship program for the youth.