{"id":312101,"date":"2019-11-14T06:08:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T20:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=312101"},"modified":"2019-11-14T06:08:21","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T20:08:21","slug":"what-now-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/what-now-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT NOW?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
File photo shows the fa\u00e7ade of the Office of the Governor on Capital Hill. (Ferdie de la Torre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly a week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed several search warrants that have ensnared the Office of the Governor and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres himself, his administration is soldiering on, with a statement yesterday that a strong economy remains a priority for the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Angel Demapan, chief of staff of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, told Saipan Tribune in an email response yesterday that the Torres administration is unaware of what will happen after the FBI investigations, which continues to be shrouded in mystery and much speculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration is not aware what happens next. The execution of the search warrant was a function of the FBI. The administration\u2026is not privy to any other information other than the execution of the search warrant,\u201d Demapan said in the email, in response to a Saipan Tribune query.<\/p>\n

As to what should be expected from the administration moving forward, Demapan said the focus is the continued operations of the government and on a \u201cstrong economy\u201d for the CNMI.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The governor], Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, and the administration remain focused on continuing the operations of the government and ensuring that the delivery of public services remains unhindered. We continue to seek the community\u2019s patience to respect the integrity of the process and the systems of justice,\u201d Demapan stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, Gov. Torres looks forward to bringing closure to this matter so that he can fully focus his efforts on his longstanding commitment to public service and the administration\u2019s goals toward building a strong economy for the Marianas,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While the governor\u2019s family recently lost a close family member, Demapan said that Torres would not be going on leave.<\/p>\n

The FBI agents executed several search warrants last Thursday that included the Governor\u2019s Office, the office of Alfred Yue of Marianas Consultancy Services LLC, a consultant for Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC; Legend Realty Saipan; the Torres Brothers\u2019 law office, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 home, and vehicle.<\/p>\n

The FBI, along with the CNMI Office of the Public Auditor, also visited the Commonwealth Casino Commission Tuesday. CCC executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero did not disclose the reason for their visit.<\/p>\n

Demapan noted in a previous statement that all the information the FBI reportedly provided to the administration is that it was an investigation on \u201callegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an effort to preserve the integrity of the process, the administration continues to seek the community\u2019s patience and support to allow the system of justice to take its course,\u201d he said in a separate statement Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have provided them with all the information and access that they have asked for, with the intent of being completely transparent and helpful in the investigation,\u201d Palacios noted in a press conference last Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

An IPI statement released late last Thursday said: \u201cOur companies have nothing to hide and will cooperate with law enforcement authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly a week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed several search warrants that have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312101","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=312101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}