{"id":350642,"date":"2021-08-26T06:06:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T20:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=350642"},"modified":"2021-08-26T06:06:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T20:06:13","slug":"heated-arguments-mark-jgo-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/heated-arguments-mark-jgo-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Heated arguments mark JGO hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Lawyer Anthony Aguon, left, confers with his client, Police Lt. Emery Kaipat of the Department of Public Safety\u2019s Boating Safety, during one of the questions asked yesterday at the hearing before the House of Representatives Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Police Lt. Emery Kaipat of the Department of Public Safety\u2019s Boating Safety appeared yesterday before the House of Representatives Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee, but his testimony touched not so much on the subject of the investigation but his constitutional right to testify in Carolinian and have the questions to him translated in Carolinian as well. See video here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another point of argument arose when Kaipat\u2019s counsel, Anthony Aguon, pointed out an error in the translation, prompting JGO chair Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) to order a recess at 3:17pm and instruct Kaipat to return for the hearing tomorrow, Friday, at 10:30am. The JGO is investigating Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 expenditures of public funds and travels.<\/p>\n

At the start of the hearing in the morning, House counsel Joseph Taijeron argued that there\u2019s absolutely nothing in the CNMI Constitution that mandates that this proceeding be translated into any other language.<\/p>\n

But if Babauta sees the need for a translation, they have that capability, Taijeron added. \u201cIf there\u2019s ever an English language proficiency issue, we will not hesitate to translate it into the language that he can understand,\u201d Taijeron said.<\/p>\n

Taijeron said if Kaipat understands the question perfectly well, then they\u2019re not going to waste any time translating it into any other language simply for the sake of translation, when he has no reason to misunderstand the question.<\/p>\n

The House counsel said it will only unduly delay the proceedings and that Babauta has the right to see fit\u2014as long as Kaipat understands the question\u2014not to translate the question into Carolinian and Chamorro when he already understands it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis manner of reply is totally absolutely up to him. We are not saying anything about his ability to speak,\u201d Taijeron said.<\/p>\n

Aguon said he would have to disagree with that reading of the CNMI Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in Deleon Guerrero and Jasper cases. \u201cThis is not an issue of proficiency. This is an issue of what language to recognize. And the Constitution recognizes Chamorro, Carolinian, and English,\u201d Aguon said.<\/p>\n

The lawyer said he is going to ask his client not to speak until it\u2019s translated to Carolinian as he had requested.<\/p>\n

Taijeron said the chairwoman is going to instruct Kaipat to comply and if he fails to comply, he may be found in contempt.<\/p>\n

Taijeron said if there\u2019s an English proficiency issue, they can always address it by having Kaipat say he doesn\u2019t understand the question.<\/p>\n

Babauta told Aguon that they\u2019re not denying his client the constitutional right.<\/p>\n

Aguon replied that she (Babauta) is denying Kaipat\u2019s constitutional right.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! We are not! We\u2019re not forcing him to speak a language that he is not proficient,\u201d Babauta said.<\/p>\n

Aguon said Kaipat just requested to speak in Carolinian. Babauta replied he can do so.<\/p>\n

Aguon said they\u2019re asking Kaipat questions in English. Babauta said Kaipat can certainly respond in a language that he is comfortable with.<\/p>\n

Aguon then called for a short recess, which Babauta granted.<\/p>\n

During recess, Aguon asked if the committee is really going down this contempt line, to which Taijeron replied, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aguon said he fundamentally disagrees with Taijeron\u2019s position and so if that\u2019s the case, then \u201cthat\u2019s what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taijeron said they had numerous attorneys look at this issue and not just him. \u201cAnd the only person saying that the right to speak is an issue is you and you alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Taijeron reiterated that he and Aguon may disagree but Babauta can make the call. \u201cYou can\u2019t just disagree with the chairman. And you\u2019re the one who\u2019s going to call the shots?\u201d Taijeron said.<\/p>\n

Aguon said he is not going to expose his client to a potential constitutional violation. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m here! That\u2019s my reason, to make sure that none of his constitutional right is violated. Either I have to listen to your interpretation of the law, or else I have to potentially violate his constitutional right,\u201d Aguon said.<\/p>\n

Taijeron said that\u2019s the way it works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen if that\u2019s the case, then I guess\u2026\u201d Aguon said, but Taijeron replied, \u201cDon\u2019t do this!\u201d<\/p>\n

Taijeron told Kaipat that he does not want him to go to jail for contempt.<\/p>\n

Aguon stressed that he is only protecting Kaipat\u2019s constitutional right.<\/p>\n

The hearing resumed at 2pm. Kaipat was allowed to testify in Carolinian and have his testimony translated.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story was updated to insert video clips from the event.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police Lt. Emery Kaipat of the Department of Public Safety\u2019s Boating Safety appeared yesterday before…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":350643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[8223],"class_list":["post-350642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-jgo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350642","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=350642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}