‘8 MPLA execs were frequent fliers’

Eight former officials of the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority account for half of the agency’s $1.3-million travel costs from 2001 to 2005, according to the Office of the Public Auditor.

These eight individuals performed 102 of the 195 trips included in OPA’s review of MPLA travel expenditures during the four-year period.

They are former board members Ana Demapan-Castro, Nicolas Nekai, Manny Villagomez and Felix Sasamoto, former commissioners Edward Deleon Guerrero and Henry Hofschneider, former deputy commissioner Frank Eliptico, and former MPLA legal counsel Ramon Quichocho.

Demapan-Castro, former chairwoman, posted the biggest travel spending, which amounted to $140,853.93. Quichocho came second with $125,527.41, followed by Hofschneider with $87,589.10.

Eliptico’s trips cost MPLA $71,930.81. Villagomez spent $61,491.17 during his trips, while Nekai spent $55,313.85.

Deleon Guerrero’s travels cost $54.915.19, while Sasamoto’s amounted to $12,950.73.

OPA noted irregularities in the trips of these eight individuals.

“It appeared that an excessive number of days were spent and excessive amounts of per diem claimed in connection with the trip’s purpose stated in the travel authorization,” wrote OPA analyst manager Rosauro Zapanta.

“For some trips, more than one additional day was added before or after the scheduled conference or meeting, and no justification was provided by the traveler or the official who approved the travel authorization. For other trips, the authorized purpose of the trip was not accomplished or the traveler decided to accomplish a different purpose, again, without the proper justification,” he added.

Zapanta said that the eight travelers may have received excess travel benefits, worth at least $51,765, as a result of their questionable claims.

He cited numerous cases of irregularities. In one instance, Demapan-Castro and Eliptico traveled with employees Teresita Santos and Connie Togawa to Breckenridge, Colorado, to attend the summer conference of the Western States Land Commissioners. Togawa reportedly suffered from altitude sickness one day after they arrived in Colorado, so none of the travelers attended the conference. They cited humanitarian reasons for staying with her.

OPA said that it was reasonable to allow per diem for one day, but the per diem claimed for eight other days should be recovered since the purpose of the trip was not accomplished.

In another case, Deleon Guerrero, Demapan-Castro, Nekai, Quichocho, and Sasamoto spent 11 days in November 2005 in Hawaii. The purpose was to present a board resolution to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and to meet with various companies that have wireless telephone services. OPA said that none of the travelers, upon their return to the CNMI, reported on anything regarding the companies they met and the insights gained from the trip.

On May 28 to June 3, 2004, Nekai and Quichocho traveled to Guam and the Philippines to get board members Benita Manglona and Manny Villagomez to sign documents. Nekai claimed board compensation totaling $1,050 in the Philippines for meetings including three hours at the hospital where Villagomez was getting treatment, two hours at Villagomez’s hotel, six hours for breakfast meetings, four hours at a shopping mall, and five hours to finalize signatures.

The pair again got authorization for a trip to Manila and Singapore from Aug. 23 to Sept. 2, 2004, supposedly “to gather information on portside management and observed the practices handled by large volume of harbor related activities on a 24-hour basis in a relatively small area of property.” They stayed in Manila and skipped the trip to Singapore.