Tinian senate seat declared vacant

Nearly two months after the resignation of embattled Sen. Herman M. Manglona, the Senate has begun steps to allow the holding of special elections on Tinian to vote on a new senator who will finish his term of office.

A joint resolution adopted at a session last Friday officially declared Manglona’s seat vacant which he relinquished on Sept. 14 immediately after pleading guilty to charges of bribery, jury tampering and mail fraud at the federal district court on Saipan.

The resolution, offered by four senators, will need concurrence by the House of Representatives before the Board of Elections calls for special polls to fill in one of three Senate seats of the Tinian municipality.

Within 60 days from the receipt of the legislative measure, election officials will have to administer all the requirements of the law, such as meeting the deadline for the nominating petitions by candidates seeking the position.

BOE will then schedule the polls at least six days before the expiration of the two-month period “to ensure smooth and efficient election process” in light of the urgent need to fill the vacancy, according to the resolution.
The winner in the voting will be sworn in immediately to serve the remainder of Manglona’s term. The former senator was elected in 1997 for a four-year term, which means that the new senator has less than two years to complete the mandate.

The adoption of the resolution, sponsored by Sens. David M. Cing, Joaquin G. Adriano, Thomas P. Villagomez and Pete P. Reyes, cleared conflicting positions in the upper house over Manglona’s resignation.

Cing, who heads the Credential Committee, which screens members of the Senate, earlier had said that they would have to await the court’s sentence before acting on the resignation.

Manglona resigned from the Legislature a day after pleading guilty to the charges filed against him in connection with federal projects he administered while still a mayor of Tinian. The federal district court is scheduled to hand down its sentence on Dec. 21.

This is the first time that an elected official has resigned from his position and the Senate had different views on how to deal with the situation. Both Reyes and Villagomez favored immediate declaration of vacancy.

The midterm elections also caused delay on the Senate action as the upper house did not hold session since the last meeting on the first week of September.