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Torres insists on legal help request
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Posted on Apr 27 2006
Rep. Stanley T. Torres insisted yesterday that he should be provided the services of a private counsel in his lawsuit against Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
Torres said in a letter to House Speaker Oscar M. Babauta that several other lawmakers support his petition to the Superior Court for a declaratory judgment on the governor’s reduction of legislative budgets beyond 7.1 percent.
This comes in response to Babauta’s reported statement that Torres’ petition was self-initiated and did not have the support of the Legislature.
Torres referred to a proposed Senate resolution commending him for asking the court to clarify whether the governor’s state of disaster emergency for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is legal.
“Representative Torres’ petition is not only about the proper restoration of legislative funds, but it is also about the enforcement of the checks and balances of our government to prevent our government employees from suffering due to Executive Branch mismanagement,” reads a portion of Senate Resolution 15-13.
Introduced by Sen. Luis Crisostimo, the resolution 15-13 is currently pending before a Senate committee.
Torres said the resolution was sent to committee “for purposes of presumably making it stronger so that the petition may be properly adjudicated.”
“Granted the governor is trying his best to improperly use the ‘emergency powers’ section of the CNMI Constitution and the Disaster Relief Act of 1979, but I believe it’s in the best interests of the separation of three branches of CNMI government to have this matter properly heard, clarified and adjudicated by the court,” he said.
