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Fitial brother belies alleged support for GOP
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Posted on Sep 20 2005
“I’m a die-hard Covenant because of my brother. I go for Covenant Party candidates all the way!”
Thus said 65-year-old Felix Fitial, the eldest brother of the Covenant Party’s gubernatorial candidate, House Speaker Benigno Fitial, in the wake of a media report that he is endorsing the reelection bid of Gov. Juan N. Babauta.
A weekly publication that began its local circulation this election year published a photo showing Felix Fitial with his brother-in-law, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, Babauta and other Republican Party leaders. In the photo, Felix wore the party’s signature yellow shirt.
Felix Fitial called up the Saipan Tribune on Monday and clarified that he simply went to the GOP gathering to bring food for his brother-in-law, Tebuteb, who was holding a fundraising event at the Garapan Fishing Base sometime in late August.
Fitial said that Tebuteb had asked his wife, Lourdes, to cook food for the fundraising event. The congressman is seeking reelection as Precinct 3 representative under the GOP banner.
Fitial said he only supports Tebuteb in the Republican Party, but he could not even vote for his brother-in-law because he is a registered voter for Precinct 1.
“I joined the fundraising event, but I don’t intend to support that group,” Fitial said. “That yellow shirt was distributed to the people who were there that night.”
Fitial said he simply wore the shirt in appreciation of his niece’s gesture to give him one. “It doesn’t mean that my heart goes with the yellow team.”
Fitial is the eldest of five siblings. He said the Fitial family would throw its full support behind the gubernatorial bid of Speaker Fitial.
Last Friday, Speaker Fitial said he had convened his family and relatives and got the clan’s strong assurance of support for his gubernatorial bid.
