Dubious champion pro se litigant?

After conferring with some colleagues at Hamilton’s Bar, who had worked at Northern Marianas College with Phil Swett and me, the consensus was to forget what Phil Swett recently wrote about me and my “pro se” legal adventures in the newspapers, since no one ever paid attention to his, or my, previous long-winded blabber fests at NMC.

However, a few of Swett’s assumptions must be cleared up before I return to more important things in my life, like trying to keep my beer cold during CUC’s attempts to seriously ruin one of the more cherished parts of living in paradise.

For openers, Swett, a former “newspaper editor” as he dubiously claims, should have checked some basic journalistic facts before he attacked Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood and me. Granted, I have on “occasion” been a legal visitor to our court system, but the cases that Swett stated that I launched against NMC as a pro se litigant need to be reviewed before Swett elevates me to a “pro se” champion contender.

The most important and most lengthy lawsuit involving NMC and myself was not filed by me, but by NMC, after they lost their case at the Civil Service Commission. The Commission correctly ruled that I had civil service protections at NMC during an illegal termination and, subsequently, NMC filed the Superior Court case against the Civil Service Commission, who represented me in this important issue of due process.

Consequently, NMC lost twice in the lower court and both times appealed to a “more NMC-friendly” CNMI Supreme Court. Well, both times the Supreme Court bent the current laws and common sense to rule against the Commission and me. According to the Supreme Court, NMC is fully autonomous and a “sovereign” government agency—sovereign, as in completely independent of everyone, even the Pope. So, would someone please tell me why a “sovereign” and completely independent NMC is still constantly begging and acting dependent on the Legislature and the governor? Because contrary to the Supreme Court’s ruling, NMC is still totally dependent on the Legislature to give them more funds, and a “non-sovereign” NMC is still subject to the ever changing laws of the Legislature, including civil service commission exemption or non-exemption.

Anyway, there were two other supplemental cases filed against NMC by me, which were dependent on the outcome of the Civil Service case and, consequently, since I got screwed in the Supreme Court in the Civil Service matter, everything else went into the toilet. One of those cases was filed pro se, and the other I had legal representation.

Therefore, Mr. Swett had only one out of three NMC cases correct. Not too good for a former “newspaper editor.”

Frankly, I look back at the CNMI cases I was involved in, including a couple against PSS (pro se), and CUC where I had representation, and I feel okay. I’ve lost some and I’ve won some, but the cases generated much-needed reforms in a repressive labor situation against mostly “outsider” employees, and they also opened the so-called can of corrupted worms that wriggles throughout out island system.

Most importantly, when I read everyday that: 1) the CNMI has had, and continues to have, major labor and government problems and; 2) that businesses are closing down and people are leaving because of constant corruption and mismanagement; 3) that NMC is in serious WASC trouble because of the same problems that I previously fought against, i.e., administrative mismanagement (think La Fiasco for one); and 4) when I read about CUC’s continuous saga of mismanagement and its 19th Century methodologies to deal with 21st century problems… I say what the hell, at least this bastard fought against the completely inexcusable attempts by some people here, both locals and outsiders, who are really messing up paradise. In retrospect, this was said by a Black Panther in the 1960s and I firmly believe in it and live by it: “If you are not a part of the solution, your are a part of the problem.”

I could go on, but I currently have more important issues to deal with…my power should be going off pretty soon, and I got to ice down my beer again and get the candles out. And to John S. Pangelinan, I do wish you well in your times of personal battles against the system.