by Tusi Tala, Staff Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Tinian inter-island airline has been accused of discrimination by the US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) after it sought to have a “weight specific” officer assigned, in line with the aircraft’s weight limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Star Marianas, which has been offering complimentary transport for USCBP personnel from Saipan to Rota to meet pre-screening needs for flights to Guam, reached out to USCBP port director Ferdinand Mallari to request a “lightweight” officer, if possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This led Mallari to label the airline’s actions as discriminatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have repeatedly informed you about this request for a ‘weight specific’ officer,” he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is inherently discriminatory, and I do not condone or accept such requests. Please refrain from making similar requests in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You will receive whoever is assigned, as all our officers are equally qualified and trained for their roles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response, Star Marianas board chair Robert Christian emphasized that the request was not meant to discriminate but was related to essential weight limitations for their aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our request was strictly due to our aircraft’s limited capacity and the critical weight restrictions necessary for safe operation,” he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To suggest that we are discriminating against USCBP officers is unfounded and undermines the cooperative spirit of this program.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christian expressed disappointment in Mallari’s comments and mentioned that Star Marianas would be reevaluating its voluntary participation in the arrangement with CBP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We were not only surprised by your message but also disappointed by its unprofessional tone and lack of constructive communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Star Marianas will continue to emphasize the need for officers with lower body weights while we reassess our voluntary involvement in this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Let me be clear: our participation in the program allowing USCBP pre-clearance on our flights is completely voluntary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are not obligated to continue this arrangement, and, to my knowledge, USCBP can also choose to end its participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Your description of our request regarding the assigned officer’s weight as ‘discriminatory’ is both incorrect and offensive.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Tusi Tala, Staff Writer A Tinian inter-island airline has been accused of discrimination by the US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) after it sought to have a “weight specific” officer assigned, in line with the aircraft’s weight limitations. Star Marianas, which has been offering complimentary transport for USCBP personnel from Saipan to Rota to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pacific-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}