Department of the Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Melvin Faisao said he “respectfully” disagrees with a court decision ordering the reinstatement of a demoted juvenile probation supervisor at the Division of Youth Services.
Associate Judge David Wiseman reversed on Aug. 25 Faisao's decision to terminate Sylvio Ada for allegedly deceiving the government in December 2009 by justifying a trip to and from Rota by claiming a bogus court hearing for a juvenile probation client.
Faisao told Saipan Tribune via email Thursday that the decision to terminate Ada was based on whether or not he did the work for which he traveled to Rota, while the court's decision focused on whether or not there was a legitimate reason for Ada to travel to the southern island.
According to Faisao, Ada attended a juvenile probation client's court hearing, which was not in the court calendar on the day of his trip to Rota. He said Ada also did not speak with the juvenile in question, the juvenile's parents or the attorney general prosecuting the case.
Faisao said Ada only spoke to the public defender, “whose testimony was that they only briefly greeted one another outside the courtroom.”
Likewise, Ada requested to travel to Rota on that day to conduct two home studies on other juveniles but Ada's own witness testified that Ada was unable to find those juveniles and asked the witness to do the home studies.
Faisao maintained that Ada submitted a travel report detailing what was said and done during the hearing which “never occurred” and described the home studies which he didn't conduct.
“While the DCCA office will follow the order of the court, this should not be interpreted to mean that it will not continue to take action against those employees it finds who have wasted or abused limited funds,” said Faisao.
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