Fitial to take control of MPLA

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial announced Friday that he will soon suspend the board and take full control of the Marianas Public Lands Authority to stop the agency from wasting public funds.

“I am going to take over the board so they will no longer waste public funds,” Fitial said during a press conference. “I strongly feel that they are wasting public funds and they shouldn’t be doing that. If you rate their performance versus the money they have spent, you wouldn’t find a letter in the alphabet to grade them.”

According to Fitial, the MPLA board is the first of several agencies that he will take over. He said he will suspend most boards as part of his administration’s reorganization plan.

He also said that there will be an investigation into MPLA contracts and expenditure of public funds by the board. The investigation will include MPLA’s travel expenses and a four-year contract reportedly awarded to the daughter of MPLA board chairwoman Ana Demapan-Castro.

“I will not allow anybody to waste public funds without bringing him or her to justice,” the governor said.

But acting Attorney General Matthew Gregory said he will not be part of the investigation, as MPLA was one of his clients until Fitial named him to his current post.

He said he will designate someone else in his office to conduct the investigation. He also vowed not to communicate with the MPLA on the issue.

The Office of the Public Auditor already has an ongoing investigation on MPLA’s travel expenses.

Days before Fitial’s inauguration, MPLA board member Nicolas Nekai, commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero, and Demapan-Castro left for Seattle to attend the Western States Land Commissioners Association conference at the Hotel Monaco Seattle from Jan. 8-12.

DeLeon Guerrero reportedly remained off-island as of Jan. 18, 2006.

Three MPLA employees were also reportedly to have traveled to the Philippines to attend a two-week computer course at MPLA’s expense. Only one of them does computer-related work for the agency.

Asked what he thought of the MPLA personnel’s trip and their reported $300 per diem fees, Fitial replied: “It’s a mortal sin.”

Meanwhile, acting Finance Secretary Eloy S. Inos said he is looking at a constitutional provision that gives his office authority to regulate the use of public funds. Specifically, he is studying whether the Finance secretary has the authority to implement one compensation schedule and travel policies for all government units including autonomous agencies.

Fitial said House Bill 14-154 aimed to do just that. The bill, which failed to get enacted, will be reintroduced and passed by the 15th Legislature.