PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):---  The Fire Department of Sint Maarten, which falls under the Ministry of General Affairs, has approved six permits for firework displays to ring in the New Year.

The displays will take place at the following locations: Great Bay, Indigo Bay, Pelican/Lay Bay, Maho/Beacon Hill, Mullet Bay, and Cupecoy.

A permit to import, transport, and sell consumer fireworks has been granted to SXM Fireworks and Skyfall Fireworks based on the Vuurwerkbesluit AB2013 GT no18.

Individual firework sales started on Monday, December 29 until the 31st of December 2025.
It is prohibited to ignite consumer fireworks without a permit provided by the Minister of General Affairs, unless this occurs from December 29th to 31st or on January 1st, 2026.

The Fire Department advises all consumers to use caution when lighting consumer fireworks:
- Read the instructions and warnings before usage. The vendor will share these with all customers.
- Protect yourself and those around you. Wear proper eye protection and clothing, and keep the fireworks at a safe distance from flammable material and spectators.
- Only use fireworks as intended. Don't try to alter them, combine them, or relight after failure.
- Choose an open area away from gas stations, bulk stations, churches, hospitals, and senior citizens' homes.
- Never light fireworks indoors and point them away from homes, bushes, dry grass, and flammable substances.
- Think about your pets.

If someone is injured by fireworks, they should immediately go to a doctor or the hospital.

The Fire Department is cautioning all persons about the risk of buying and lighting fireworks from any unauthorized vendor, as these have not been screened by the Fire Department and therefore may not meet the safety requirements.

Fireworks not sold by a certified vendor are considered illegal fireworks and may not meet the criteria of ignition delay, and may have larger explosions or effects than allowed.

Such fireworks can cause severe burns and loss of fingers, limbs, and life. These illegal fireworks, if ignited too close or inside a building, may cause severe damage or the collapse of the aforementioned.

The Police will not hesitate to act accordingly in the case of the usage, storage, or sale of illegal fireworks.

The Fire Department, together with the Police, Customs, and the Coast Guard, will be vigilant to ensure that all firework activities at the end of 2025 are conducted in accordance with the granted permits and used safely.

The Fire Department would like to thank in advance everybody who has prevented harm or damage by acting responsibly and safely on Sint Maarten and beyond.

The Fire Chief and the entire staff wish you a healthy and safe 2026.

For any emergencies, call the Fire Dept. 919; Police 911; Ambulance 912; Coast Guard 913.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Richinel Brug stands as the Minister of VSA who, due to an apparent lack of competence and initiative, has consistently avoided public scrutiny. His silence speaks louder than any words; he has become a ghost in parliament and a stranger to the media, leaving the public without answers or assurances in one of the country's most critical ministries: labor and healthcare.

Taking the reins of VSA is no minor feat. The Ministry controls the policies that affect the health, livelihoods, and future of every citizen. Yet, Minister Brug has spectacularly mishandled this trust, presiding over a period of stagnation and missed opportunities that will take years to undo.

A Deafening Silence: Failure Across the Board

Brug's unwillingness to engage with stakeholders, both within government and among the general public, has led to a string of high-profile failures:

Healthcare in Stagnation

Promises to enhance healthcare have come to nothing. Under Brug's watch, the St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH)—once hailed as a backbone for the country’s medical system—has been set back by an inexcusable 200-day delay. For patients, this isn’t mere bureaucracy; it’s another half year without adequate facilities, longer wait times, and ultimately worse health outcomes for thousands. Elderly residents and those with chronic illnesses have been especially hard-hit, with reports of deferred procedures and unavailable specialists growing alarmingly frequent.

The shelving of Saha General Health Insurance stands as an outright betrayal of public trust. Families who had hoped for comprehensive, accessible healthcare have been left in limbo, forced to make hard choices between seeking care and covering other basic expenses. There has been no public communication or timeline for resuming the project—only silence and uncertainty.

Social Safety Net in Tatters

Brug’s lack of a structural plan for Social and Health Insurances (SZV) is no small oversight; it is a failure that places the most vulnerable at risk. Employees and retirees have expressed fears about the stability of their benefits. The absence of reforms and transparency within SZV has led to confusion, delays in claims processing, and overall erosion of confidence in the system—a situation some local unions have called “unsustainable.”

Mental Health: A Neglected Crisis

The back-and-forth with the Prime Minister over a mental health master plan has left critical improvements stalled. For those suffering from mental illness, this delay is more than frustrating—it’s devastating. Local advocacy groups have documented troubling surges in untreated conditions and even suicide attempts, while Minister Brug has yet to outline any responsive policy or funding allocation. The community’s pleas for crisis intervention and support have fallen on deaf ears.

Labor: A Ministry Missing in Action

As St. Maarten’s labor market faces unprecedented pressures, Brug’s failures compound. The cancellation of long-promised job fairs has set back hundreds of job-seekers. Young adults graduating into the workforce find themselves adrift, with little government guidance or opportunity. One employer shared anonymously, “We had to create our own recruiting events because the Ministry gave us nothing. It’s like we’ve been left behind.”

Instead of launching task forces or upskilling initiatives to address rising unemployment, Brug’s Ministry seems paralyzed, failing to adapt to market changes or offer meaningful programs. Small businesses, struggling to recover from the post-pandemic, have received little more than generic press statements devoid of substance or support.

The Broader Impact: Lost Faith and Diminished Lives

These failures have real, everyday consequences: families rationing medication because health insurance promises went unfulfilled; job-seekers waiting in vain for opportunities that never materialize; and mental health sufferers with nowhere to turn in their darkest hours. Civil servants report morale at an all-time low, and community leaders fear lasting damage to public confidence in government.

A Call for Leadership, Not Excuses

Minister Brug’s tenure is defined by absence—from the media, from the people, and from responsibility. Leadership isn’t merely about occupying a seat or signing off on paperwork; it’s about vision, action, and resilience in the face of challenge. Brug has failed to demonstrate any of these qualities.

Minister Brug’s time in office has been one long retreat—from responsibility, from oversight, and from the people he was meant to serve. Leadership in such a ministry demands transparency, courage, and a willingness to get one’s hands dirty in the business of solving problems. Instead, Brug has offered only silence, delays, and evasions, leaving the nation to pay the price for his reluctance.

As St. Maarten looks to a new year, the demand for accountability has never been more urgent. Citizens, advocacy groups, and honest public officials must call for a wholesale transformation in the Ministry of VSA—a ministry too important to be entrusted to someone who refuses to lead.

Silence and inaction are not governance. They are a betrayal of public trust. The time has come to insist on a minister who will show up, speak out, and finally put the people of St. Maarten first. Anything less is unacceptable.

PHILIPSBURG:--- As 2025 draws to a close, the people of St. Maarten are left to reflect on a year marked by a string of controversies and questionable decisions from the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport, and Telecommunication (TEATT), led by Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten. While the year was full of promises, the results have raised serious questions about transparency, accountability, and the government's priorities. Let's count down the most significant blunders that have defined the Minister's year.

4. The Botched Holiday Booths

Kicking off our countdown is the recently launched Holiday Booths Pilot Program. Intended to bring festive cheer to Philipsburg, the program has instead been criticized as a poorly executed and underwhelming initiative. The last-minute announcement and limited scope left many wondering if it was a genuine effort to boost the local economy or a hastily assembled project. For many, the "Christmas atmosphere" the Ministry aimed for felt more like a ghost of holidays past, failing to deliver the vibrant experience promised to vendors and the public.

3. A Legal Reversal: The District 721 Warning

In November, the Ministry of TEATT dealt a significant blow when the Court of First Instance annulled a formal warning issued to the restaurant and bar, District 721. The court found "significant contradictions" in the Ministry's evidence regarding an alleged noise violation. The official warning letter stated that "no violations were found on May 2," directly contradicting the Ministry's later claims used to justify the penalty. This ruling was not just a victory for local business; it was a public rebuke of the Ministry's careless approach to regulatory enforcement and a clear signal that its actions must be based on credible facts, not administrative whims.

2. The Transport License Scandal

This year, the lid was blown off with a long-simmering scandal of duplicated public transport licenses. Leaked documents revealed a deeply corrupt system where taxis, bus, and tour licenses were allegedly hoarded by political elites and their associates for decades. The investigation uncovered that single license numbers were issued to multiple individuals, creating phantom assets and a chaotic, unregulated market. While this issue predates the current Minister, her administration is now tasked with untangling this mess. The proposed five-phase reform package is an ambitious promise, but the public remains skeptical whether it will lead to genuine change or simply be another layer of bureaucracy over a deeply entrenched system of cronyism.

1. The Half-Million Guilder Hole: The Philipsburg Marketplace

Topping the list of scandals is the glaring failure of the Philipsburg Marketplace project. The public was shocked to learn that approximately 467,000 guilders have been paid to a contractor for a project that has yet to break ground. Despite a series of shifting timelines and excuses ranging from soil quality to a delayed roof quote, the marketplace remains a vacant lot—a monument to broken promises. The initial completion estimate of six to eight months, announced in August, has evaporated, leaving vendors and the public with nothing but questions. The expenditure of nearly half a million guilders with no visible progress is a staggering example of poor planning and a profound lack of accountability with public funds.

A Call for Change in 2026

As we bid farewell to 2025, the catalogue of missteps under the TEATT Ministry paints a grim picture. From questionable spending and legal defeats to failed initiatives and inherited corruption, public trust has been severely eroded. The coming year must be one of reckoning. The people of St. Maarten deserve more than excuses and shifting goalposts; they deserve transparent, effective, and accountable governance. The hope for 2026 is that lessons will be learned, and leadership will finally prioritize the public's interest over political expediency.

PHILIPSBURG:--- As the countdown to the New Year begins, the people of St. Maarten are left looking back not with hope, but with profound disappointment. Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina’s first full year in office has been defined less by the solutions he promised from the campaign podium and more by a disturbing pattern of evasion, misleading statements, and administrative failure. Mercelina took office in May 2024 and to date there is no real progress.

The most glaring stain on this administration is the disgraceful treatment of our frontline workers. The ongoing go-slow action by firefighters and ambulance personnel isn't just a labor dispute; it is a direct indictment of a leader who seems to have forgotten the people who risk their lives for us.

A Crisis of Trust, Not Paperwork

The Prime Minister’s handling of the WICSU/PSU union negotiations has been nothing short of a debacle. He stood before Parliament and claimed a commitment to resolving grievances regarding retroactive pay and career progression. Yet, when pressed, the truth came out: there was no binding commitment. He lied to the unions, he misled Parliament, and he attempted to backtrack when the pressure mounted.

MP Darryl York hit the nail on the head in a recent parliamentary address that should echo into 2026. He rightly accused Dr. Mercelina of governing through email chains and "seven excuses wrapped in administrative language" rather than direct, human engagement. You cannot solve a crisis of trust with a memo. You cannot feed a family with a non-binding presentation.

The Prime Minister’s defense—that he "inherited" these problems—has worn thin. While it is true that Dr. Mercelina did not manufacture two decades of neglect, he campaigned on having the specific remedies to cure it. Instead of the surgeon we were promised, we got a tourist. After a year and seven months in office, the Prime Minister seems more accustomed to the comforts of first-class travel and per diem allowances than to the gritty reality of solving national issues.

The GEBE Debacle

The failure extends beyond the emergency services. Look no further than GEBE, the island’s sole utility company, which remains rudderless without a management board. The Supervisory Board of Directors (SBOD) submitted candidate names back in July 2024. Yet, here we are facing a new year with no appointments made by the shareholder.

Dr. Mercelina loves to speak of corporate governance, but his actions at GEBE tell a different story. He bypassed standard protocols to forcefully appoint Jeffreyson Paris as COO—a figure whose previous tenure in Curaçao ended in layoffs for questionable reasons. This hypocrisy undermines the very institutions he swore to protect.

Time for Accountability

As 2025 closes, the nation is in a precarious position. Emergency services are compromised because workers feel disrespected. Essential utilities are in limbo due to political maneuvering. The Prime Minister’s strategy of hiding behind "inherited problems" while enjoying the perks of the office is an insult to every voter who believed his campaign rhetoric.

St. Maarten deserves better than excuses. We deserve a leader who honors their words, respects our frontline heroes, and prioritizes the public good over personal comfort. Dr. Mercelina, the honeymoon is over. The time for presentations has passed. In 2026, we demand execution, accountability, and the restoration of the public trust you have so carelessly eroded.