Rep. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan), the original force behind a taxpayers\u2019 lawsuit against a $190.8-million sole-sourced power purchase agreement between former governor Benigno R. Fitial and Saipan Development LLC, said that yesterday\u2019s court order finding the 25-year PPA void from the beginning is \u201ca victory for the people of the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lawsuit has never been only to impeach Fitial but more importantly, to protect the interests of the CNMI people. The victory belongs to the people of the Commonwealth, not me, because I was only representing them,\u201d Maratita told Saipan Tribune yesterday.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman issued yesterday a 26-page order finding that Fitial, as governor in 2012, did not have the authority to suspend Commonwealth Utilities Corp. procurement regulations and that the PPA that Fitial entered with Delaware-based SDLLC is void ab initio.<\/p>\n
Maratita, who had been one of the lawmakers subjected to political harassment at the time the impeachment process against Fitial was underway, said she\u2019s \u201cvery pleased\u201d and \u201chappy\u201d about the court ruling, which she said would have subjected present and future generations to much costlier power rates.<\/p>\n
The $190.8-million PPA was among the key issues comprising the articles of impeachment against Fitial, along with the temporary release of a prisoner to give him a massage at his private residence in the wee hours of the morning, and an award of a sole-source ARRA management contract, among other things.<\/p>\n
Maratita said the sentiments of the people and the court ruling on the taxpayers\u2019 lawsuit against the PPA \u201cshould serve as lesson to every government official\u201d that entering into agreements on behalf of the people should be done in a transparent manner.<\/p>\n
Along with then minority leader and now House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) and others, Maratita was one of those who voted \u201cyes\u201d to impeach Fitial for corruption, neglect of duty, and felony.<\/p>\n
Fitial stepped down as governor days before the Senate was to start his impeachment trial, after the House successfully moved the impeachment process to the Senate. Fitial is the first governor in the CNMI or any U.S. territory to resign as a result of an impeachment process.<\/p>\n
Acting Senate president Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan), who joined Maratita as co-plaintiff in the taxpayers\u2019 lawsuit against the PPA, separately said yesterday he\u2019s \u201cpleased\u201d and \u201cecstatic\u201d about the court ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no question the PPA was a factor in the impeachment of Fitial and more importantly, the PPA, if it\u2019s pursued, would do more harm than good to the CNMI and its people,\u201d Yumul said.<\/p>\n
Yumul, now Senate floor leader, also gives Maratita most of the credit \u201cfor pushing this issue forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said if it were not for Maratita\u2019s perseverance, the CNMI might have been bound by a questionable sole-sourced power purchase agreement for 25 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, I have been raising the concern about Fitial\u2019s declaration of emergency for CUC. He\u2019s been using as reasons for the emergency the following: government agencies\u2019 inability to pay CUC, lack of a board of directors, lack of manpower for CUC, and renewable energy crisis. All of them are solvable. And why use renewable energy crisis when we didn\u2019t have renewable energy in the first place? He was planning and conniving the whole time for a PPA, and it was diesel generation when we\u2019re supposed to be leaning toward renewable energy,\u201d Yumul said.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s ruling, Wiseman determined that applicable regulations were not followed in executing the power purchase agreement with SDLLC which, in turn, sued CUC in federal court over the voided PPA.<\/p>\n
Fitial and then attorney general Edward T. Buckingham signed the PPA on Aug. 3, 2012. The power purchase agreement was kept secret, except for a few individuals in government, until the media got hold of a copy of the agreement while Fitial was off-island for a political event and after Buckingham fled the CNMI after he was served with a penal summons to appear in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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