What are you doing, primo?

“What are you doing, primo?” Such was my reaction when I read the 20/20 transcript pertaining to the governor’s son.

As the notorious Brian Ross relates, “And then one of the nightclub owners showed up, insisting he had a high—class clientele, including important government officials he wanted us to see for ourselves. And sure enough, among the customers, in a black and white shirt, was a man identified to us as the governor’s son, the head of the island’s tourism office, entertaining a delegation of Japanese government officials. Hiding his head, the governor’s son fled the scene, and neither he nor his father have had anything else to say about the matter.”

If the 20/20 report was correct, the man in the black and white shirt surely had to be my primo, Perry John Tenorio, the Director of the Marianas Visitors Bureau. For the life of me, I do not understand what 20/20 was trying to imply by including him in this episode.

Did Perry do something wrong? Was he forcing himself and his guests upon the nonresident hostesses?

I know Perry John Tenorio. He is a decent fellow. He is not a Kennedy-like scion of the Tenorio family. He is no Ted Kennedy. He is no Bill Clinton either. He has never used his father’s clout to procure women for himself. No CNMI state trooper was ever used to bring Asian women to hotel rooms for the purposes of requesting oral sex.

The ABC news magazine has clearly maligned the good reputation of the Teno family by associating it with a cheap and flimsy piece on forced prostitution and sexual slavery.

Perry did nothing wrong–but then why did he allegedly hide his head and “flee from the scene”?

Again, if this is true, I believe Perry made a mistake: Overly concerned about the possible appearance of impropriety, he may have panicked and left. Like I said, I know Perry. He’s my primo. I’ve known him since he was attending San Diego State University in 1991; and believe me, Perry is no Froilan Cruz Tenorio. That is to say, he is not exactly what you might call an unabashed devil-may-care rugged individualist like myself or the former governor. Coming from a very respectable local family where respect and tradition run deep, I can easily see how Perry might be overly concerned about mere appearances, social conformity, and the like.

However, if I had been in his position, I would have invited the 20/20 reporters to come sit and have a drink with me. I would have welcomed them and entertained any question they might have had concerning the CNMI. After all, nothing was amiss. No laws, local or applicable federal, were being violated. Perry was just entertaining some Japanese guests in a legal nightclub environment where nobody was forced into doing anything.

The feminist, politically-correct mainland American reporter might not like it, but this is the Asian way. Korean, Chinese and Japanese businessmen–even some expatriate Americans–regularly conduct business in such establishments. Singing and drinking beers in a Karaoke environment, with female hostesses around, is a normal part of the Asian male business culture.

The only thing I would object to, is if my primo made like former finance chief Antonio R. Cabrera and got a government reimbursement on a receipt, because that might be in clear violation of an OPA procurement regulation.