{"id":348366,"date":"2021-07-21T06:07:32","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T20:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=348366"},"modified":"2021-07-21T06:07:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T20:07:32","slug":"receipt-shows-torres-purchased-817-worth-of-home-depot-in-guam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/receipt-shows-torres-purchased-817-worth-of-home-depot-in-guam\/","title":{"rendered":"Receipt shows Torres purchased Home Depot tools worth $817"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Atty. Viola Alepuyo talks to her client, special assistant for administration Mathilda A. Rosario, during the latter\u2019s continuation of her testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations. JGO chaired by Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) is investigating Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 travels and expenses. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the continuation of the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee investigation into the expenses of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, the committee presented yesterday a receipt from Home Depot in Guam, where Torres bought $817 worth of outdoor garden items or tools using cash on Nov. 11, 2017, and then had the amount reimbursed, describing the items as for his office\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan) showed a copy of the receipt to special assistant for administration Mathilda A. Rosario, who was on her third day of testimony in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Rosario testified yesterday through a new interpreter, Donald Mendiola. Viola Alepuyo was seated next to Rosario as her counsel.<\/p>\n

When Saipan Tribune left the House chamber at about 4:15pm, Rosario was still testifying about Torres\u2019 memo request for reimbursement dated May 3, 2016, to then-Finance secretary Larrisa Larson.<\/p>\n

The memo sought reimbursement in the amount of $3,209 for various electronic items. The memo states it\u2019s for office equipment as supplies for the medical referral office in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

JGO chair Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) said the Home Depot receipt showed that Torres went to Guam and bought garden outdoor items on Nov. 11, 2017, which was a Saturday and Veterans Day, a holiday. Rosario testified that she did not see the purchased items at the governor\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan) said he finds \u201cinteresting\u201d the items that Torres bought during his \u201cshopping spree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting [are] the items he purchased,\u201d Propst said. \u201cSo this receipt, it says these items for office operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Propst said what he does not understand is that Torres went to Guam and that some of the items he purchased were a 5-lb pick, a 2.5-lb pick, a lopper, which is a garden tool to cut branches; a chainsaw, and a bush cutter. He pointed out that all these items, including a wheelbarrow, can be purchased at any hardware stores on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor is an extremely busy man. But somehow he finds time to purchase these items that are common and can be found on Saipan on every hardware store,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Besides buying these items in Guam and then bringing them back to Saipan for office operations, Propst said there has to be somebody other than the governor who could buy these items and pick them up from hardware stores on Saipan. \u201cThese purchases that were made\u2026I\u2019m also wondering how it was brought back to Saipan,\u201d he said. For example, he said, the gas chainsaw\u2014as normally from his experience, if something has any gas or anything in it\u2014would have to be brought by service or by boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo by any chance do your know how these items were brought back to Saipan?\u201d Propst asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, honestly,\u201d said Rosario, through the interpreter.<\/p>\n

Propst said he find it \u201cvery odd\u201d that Torres has the time to go shopping and buy all these equipment allegedly for office operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes to Guam, purchases these items, brings these back to Saipan for office operations when clearly every single one of these items can be purchased easily on Saipan,\u201d Propst said. \u201cThis just something like\u2026this is very confusing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sablan noted that the day of the purchase was a holiday being Veterans Day and that the items were paid in cash, according to the receipt. <\/p>\n

Sablan said Rosario also testified that she did not see those items in the inventory based on her review of the inventory list. Sablan said Rosario is not clear whether the wheelbarrow is in the governor\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

Rosario also testified that she does not know if Torres was on official business in Guam when he went shopping at Home Depot on a holiday, because it was not during her time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the continuation of the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee investigation into the expenses…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":348367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51,11693],"class_list":["post-348366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-guam","tag-home-depot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348366","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}