Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a Dec. 3rd memo, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga re-appointed four members of the American Samoa TeleCommunication Board of Directors. Among the re-appointed members are Iulogologo Joseph Pereira who was also reappointed as board chairman.

Aside from Iulogologo the other three re-appointed members are Alofagia Nomura, Taiulagi Asuega and Omar Shalhout.

“Each of these members have faithfully served in their roles during their previous terms and will continue to move ASTCA forward,” the governor wrote in the memo to cabinet directors, noting that Iulogologo will continue to serve as board chairman.

Additionally, these reappointments are effective immediately. The memo shows that the terms of the re-appointed members all expire in December 2022.

The other current three board members are Solip Hong, Dr. Tupulua “Bone” Ta’ase and Ben V. Sauvao. The terms for Hong and Tupulua expire in November 2021, while Sauvao’s term expires in June 2022.

According to the governor’s memo, Asuega, Shalhout and Sauvao are Private Sector members of the board, while the rest are At-Large members.

Samoa News notes that because ASTCA continues to operate as a semi-autonomous agency through an executive order put in place more than 20-years ago, it’s board of director members are not subject to Fono confirmation.

The most recent effort to have ASTCA established by law as a semi autonomous agency, and its board appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Fono occurred during the 36th Legislature, which officially closed towards the end of September this year.

With the bill — which was introduced by the Lolo Administration — still pending in committee when the 36th Legislature closed, the legislation was automatically defeated.

Over the years similar legislation never made it out of committee when that Legislative session officially closed.