{"id":283216,"date":"2018-08-28T06:06:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T20:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=283216"},"modified":"2018-08-28T06:06:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T20:06:51","slug":"sablan-is-nmi-govts-2018-employee-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/sablan-is-nmi-govts-2018-employee-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Sablan is NMI govt\u2019s 2018 Employee of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Lt. John Henry M. Sablan, second from left, poses with Finance Secretary Larissa Larson, left, Customs director Joe Mafnas, second right, and Capt. J.J. Atalig, manager of enforcement and K-9.\u00a0(Erwin Encinares)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Henry M. Sablan was named the CNMI government\u2019s 2018 Employee of the Year during the pre-Labor Day picnic held at the Garapan Fishing Base last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Sablan, a member of the Division of Customs under the Department of Finance, is a Customs lieutenant and supervises the Special Forces branch, including the K-9 unit and investigations. He has been in the department for 14 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very proud and honored to receive this award. I congratulate all the other nominees for a job well done and it\u2019s nice to be appreciated\u2026not only me, but including my team. If not for them I don\u2019t think I would be receiving this award,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sablan looks forward to continue delivering the good services and giving his all at Customs.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026The work that we have done under Gov. Ralph DLG Torres were due to [his initiatives]. In the drug enforcement task force, we have made a lot of strives to fight this war. I am very proud of the work that we do and we would continue to fight that war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finance Secretary Larissa Larson noted that Sablan plays an active role in the activation of the K-9 units and the interception of drugs in the NMI.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026[Sablan] has also taken a really strong leadership role among the staff and he is really motivating them to stay at the top of their game and really perform. You can see it with interceptions and announcements of finding drugs within the Commonwealth,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune, emphasizing that Sablan\u2019s work is highly dependent on the division working as a team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really solid team here [under Sablan] and he is a major part of that,\u201d she noted. \u201cEverybody has a specific role to do and they all do what they are supposed to do, and I am really proud of all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan\u2019s other boss, Division of Customs director Joe Mafnas, noted that Sablan may be a tad silent but he gets the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a man of few words\u2026 He is a doer,\u201d Mafnas said, describing his work relationship with Sablan. \u201cYou hardly hear him speak, but he does great things for the division,\u201d adding that Sablan, who was also an instructor at the K-9 unit, is also very passionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very happy, and he deserves it,\u201d Mafnas said. Mafnas has been working with Sablan since 2013.<\/p>\n

Sablan, who is the son of House vice speaker Rep. Janet V. Maratita (R-Saipan), bested 22 employees under a total of 23 agencies: the Department of Commerce\u2019s Jesse C. Chong, the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs\u2019 Frances Mildred Cruz, Department of Corrections\u2019 Timothy C. Deleon Guerrero, the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services\u2019 Albert Aldan, Department of Labor\u2019s Norlane Arlene V. Rafanan, Department of Lands and Natural Resources\u2019 Frances G. Sablan, Department of Public Lands\u2019 Shane A. Lizama, Department of Public Safety\u2019s Esther Delos Reyes, Department of Public Works\u2019 Tina Marie Aguon, Office of the Governor\u2019s Amy B. Shai, Office of Management and Budget\u2019s Jasmine Lizama, Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality\u2019s Anne Marie Navarrete, Office of the Attorney General\u2019s Carla Torres, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library\u2019s Vincent Donald P. Sablan, Office of Personnel Management\u2019s Tina S. Mesngon, Commonwealth Development Authority\u2019s Esperanza Borja, Marianas Visitors Authority\u2019s David Atalig, Northern Marianas Housing Corp.\u2019s Jacob Muna, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.\u2019s Isabel K. Davis, Commonwealth Utilities Corp.\u2019s Jeffrey Reyes, Saipan Office of the Mayor\u2019s Franky Hocog, and Commonwealth Casino Commission\u2019s Ruth Anne P. Sakisat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Henry M. Sablan was named the CNMI government\u2019s 2018 Employee of the Year during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":283255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,410,6213,15862],"class_list":["post-283216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-drugs","tag-joe-mafnas","tag-personnel-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}