Demapan amends suit to include DoF’s Atalig

Former Senate president Juan S. Demapan yesterday filed with the Superior Court a taxpayer’s lawsuit against Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig for paying the salary of Pamela Brown, whom he claims to be holding the attorney general post unlawfully.

Two months after filing a taxpayer’s lawsuit against Brown, Demapan amended his complaint to include Atalig as the attorney general’s co-defendant in the case.

Demapan also assailed the validity of Brown’s confirmation by the Senate on Nov. 17, 2003.

“Only three senators voted to confirm Pamela S. Brown as attorney general, as two other new senators have not been validly sworn in as required by Senate rules,” his lawyer, Pedro Atalig, said in the amended complaint.

The suit impleads Brown and Atalig as defendants in their official capacities. Unlike Demapan’s original complaint, the amended one dropped his claim against Brown in her personal capacity.

Demapan alleged that Brown has been drawing her salary for the attorney general post since June 16, 2003, the date when she was nominated to the position by Gov. Juan N. Babauta.

Brown had denied assuming the attorney general post in an acting capacity. Her attorneys claim that she only assumed the position after being sworn into office on Dec. 5, 2003.

Demapan brought the suit as a taxpayer, citing the constitutional provision that a taxpayer has a right to “bring action against the government or its instrumentalities in order to enjoin the expenditure of public funds for other purposes or for a breach of fiduciary duty.”

He wants the court to declare Brown as occupying the attorney general post unlawfully; asks for a permanent injunctions to bar her from holding the position in an acting or official capacity; and for Secretary Atalig to stop paying her salary and other expenses. He also asked the court to order the repayment of government funds received as salary and expenses by Brown as attorney general.

The suit alleges that Brown failed to muster the constitutional requirement for confirmation within the 90-day deadline following her appointment. Pedro Atalig explained that the 90-day deadline for Brown’s confirmation fell on Sept. 14, 2003, when the Senate had yet to take action on her nomination. A Senate faction composed of four members also rejected Brown’s nomination in a session on Sept. 17, 2003.

In a telephone interview, though, Pedro Atalig said that Demapan would drop the suit if Superior Court judge Juan T. Lizama issues a ruling that Brown is occupying the attorney general post unlawfully, which might consequently result in the dismissal of the controversial $3.45-million land compensation dispute in the Malite case.

“If he [Lizama] rules in our favor [to dismiss the Malite case], that [taxpayer’s suit] will be moot,” Pedro Atalig said.

Pedro Atalig represents Malite estate administrator Jesus Tudela, who is claiming for the estate the $3.45-million land compensation that the Marianas Public Lands Authority had awarded it.

Pedro Atalig formerly occupied a board seat at the MPLA. His office manager, Demapan, is brother of MPLA board chair Ana Demapan-Castro. Pedro Atalig is also brother to MPLA board member Benita Atalig-Manglona.

Brown had sued Tudela, the MPLA, its board, and commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero to prevent the drawdown of the $3.45 million from the government’s land compensation fund.

Brown had contended that there are circumstances surrounding the Malite transaction that create a “strong appearance of ethical impropriety and conflicts of interest.”