Ex-commissioner settles with MPLA

Governor’s special assistant for political and regional affairs Bertha Leon Guerrero has settled with the Marianas Public Lands Authority over her termination from the agency two years ago.

Her husband, CNMI Water Task Force senior staff Patrick Leon Guerrero, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit filed against MPLA in May last year, confirmed that the settlement recently took place but declined to give details except to say, “we’re satisfied.”

“We’re advised by our legal counsel that we can’t say much about this. The only thing that we can say is that we’re satisfied,” he said in an interview.

Bertha Leon Guerrero, in her lawsuit, pushed for a court declaration that her termination from MPLA was void and that she should be reinstated to her former seat as the agency’s commissioner.

She also asked the court to award her past and future wages due her position.

Deleon Guerrero’s lawyer, former Superior Court associate judge Timothy H. Bellas, had argued that her termination was unlawful and was tainted with irregular circumstances.

Bellas said the MPLA board terminated her on Nov. 24, 2002, a day after she left for Manila on official leave of absence to accompany her husband to a hospital for treatment of a serious illness. Her husband was covered by her health insurance policy obtained through her employment with MPLA.

A day before the termination, Bellas said the commissioner met with MPLA legal counsel Raymond Quichocho to raise concerns over the legality of entering into contracts to procure goods and services for the MPLA without complying with the CNMI Procurement Regulations.

Also on Nov. 13, 2002, Bellas said that Quichocho informed Leon Guerrero that he had decided to remove her name as contract signatory, allegedly citing that she was just raising issues to delay contract executions.

The following day, board chair Ana Demapan-Castro and members Manuel Villagomez, Pedro Atalig and Pedro JL Igitol drafted and executed a memorandum terminating Guerrero as commissioner. Bellas alleged that another board member, Tomas B. Aldan, was not consulted about the memo, nor was any notice given to the public about the board action.

“When Mrs. Guerrero returned to [work] on the morning of November 20, 2002, she was handed the memorandum by [MPLA deputy commissioner Henry] Hofschneider seconds after she walked into her office. Mrs. Guerrero was not given any reason for the termination,” Bellas had said.

Bellas said that, although the memo indicated that the unseated commissioner would receive severance pay, his client did not actually receive any. The lawyer also assailed the legality of the termination because it did not meet the 60-day advance notice allegedly required of the board.

Bellas conceded that Guerrero had no official contract with MPLA, although a written communication from then board chair Aldan had assured her that she could not be terminated without a 60-day advance notice.

The board adopted a personnel manual in August 2002, which partly provided that it shall set forth the commissioner’s employment’s terms and conditions in a contract. But Bellas said the board breached this regulation because it never set forth Guerrero’s employment terms in a contract.

The settlement came even as the House of Representatives subpoenaed MPLA last week over several issues including Deleon Guerrero’s termination.