2 Superior Court staff directed to talk about court interpreters

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho ordered two court staff yesterday to testify about the issue governing interpreters in connection with a murder case.

Camacho said director of Courts Sonia Camacho and Limited English Proficiency coordinator Vivian S. Dela Cruz will be summoned to testify in court.

Camacho set the hearing for May 15 at 9am on defendant Alfonso Sebastian Parongan’s motion for the court to provide and pay for a Tagalog interpreter.

The judge said Parongan and the Office of the Attorney General may also call other witnesses.

In Parongan’s motion, assistant public defender Heather M. Zona had questioned the court’s act requiring the Office of the Public Defender to provide the Tagalog interpreter.

Zona argued that assigning OPD the task of finding interpreters violates both Commonwealth law and Parongan’s constitutional and civil rights.

The OAG charged Parongan for allegedly repeatedly stabbing her in Chalan Kanoa in 2017, killing her.
The landlord’s husband was also injured during the attack.