{"id":359676,"date":"2022-01-13T06:05:53","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=359676"},"modified":"2022-01-13T06:05:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T20:05:53","slug":"torres-is-impeached","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/torres-is-impeached\/","title":{"rendered":"Torres is impeached"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rep. Leila Staffler (D-Saipan) gestures as she talks with Reps. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) and Donald Manglona (Ind-Rota) after the conclusion of the House of Representatives\u2019 session yesterday, in which the House of Representatives voted to impeach Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.\u00a0(FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As expected and after a lengthy session, the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives approved yesterday the six articles of impeachment against Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, making him the second governor in CNMI history to be impeached.<\/p>\n

Next step is for the CNMI Senate to hold a trial. Contrary to what many believe, Torres\u2019 impeachment doesn\u2019t automatically mean his removal from office. The Senate will \u201chear\u201d the case, with House lawmakers acting as prosecutors.<\/p>\n

With 15 \u201cyes\u201d votes, four \u201cno\u201d votes, and one abstention, the House passed House Resolution 22-14 yesterday, impeaching Torres for alleged commission of felonies, corruption, and neglect of duty, in violation of Article III, Section 19 of the CNMI Constitution.<\/p>\n

With the same votes, the House adopted the House resolution that has six articles of impeachment charging the governor with committing felony of theft of utility services, committing felony theft, corruption for unlawful first-class and business-class travel, corruption for misuse of government resources, neglect of duty for negligence during crisis, and neglect of duty for contempt of the Legislature.<\/p>\n

It was a historic day, showing deep polarization gripping the community and CNMI politics in Torres\u2019 term, and disunited Republican representatives in the House.<\/p>\n

The impeachment votes set the stage for a trial in the Senate, which will decide a few months before Torres faces re-election, whether to acquit the youngest governor on U.S. soil or convict and remove him from office.<\/p>\n

With the House\u2019s action, the articles of impeachment will now go to the nine-member Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. Torres is the titular head of the Republican Party. The Senate will need a two-third vote\u2014six votes\u2014to convict and remove Torres.<\/p>\n

In a statement yesterday, Torres said it is unfortunate to witness the hatred and the willful spread of misinformation from the mouths of certain individuals as evidenced by the calls for his impeachment and the demonstration held outside of the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been advocating for all of us to work collaboratively as one united Commonwealth, and yet, politically-motivated members of the House of Representatives have chosen time and time against this,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

He said politically motived representatives have chosen to pursue a witch hunt in order to perpetuate this notion that he is a corrupt leader who does not care for the wellbeing of his home and its people.<\/p>\n

Reiterating his previous comments that he has done anything illegal, the governor said he has trust in the Senate\u2019s ability to conduct upcoming impeachment trial with transparency, in proper decorum, and in accordance with a set of published rules.<\/p>\n

The public comment portion of the House session took one hour and 30 minutes as many Torres supporters and pro-impeachment advocates spoke. The session started at 10am and finished at 4:50pm.<\/p>\n

Police officers stood inside and outside the Legislature building as Torres\u2019 supporters and pro-impeachment and Democrat officers and supporters gathered in separate tents in front of the Legislature building.<\/p>\n

Torres\u2019 supporters, who outnumbered the pro-impeachment people, put up on their tent banners that read \u201cStop the bullying, Stop the hate, we are tired.\u201d Other banners read \u201cWe love Gov. Torres,\u201d \u201cRespect My Vote, No Impeachment,\u201d \u201cWe fight for Governor Because He Fights For Us,\u201d and \u201cAlways Grateful, Never Hateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres and his wife, Diann Tudela Torres, along with family members, visited the supporters. The governor made a brief remark, drawing cheers from his supporters.<\/p>\n

The pro-impeachment supporters had banners that read \u201cImpeach the Governor\u201d and \u201cImpeach.\u201d Some Democratic Party officials were in the tent.<\/p>\n

The representatives who voted for the impeachment were nine Democrats, three independents, and three Republicans. They were Reps. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan), Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan), Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), Leila Staffler (D-Saipan), Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan), Denita Yangetmai (D-Saipan), Richard T. Lizama (D-Saipan), Vicente Camacho (D-Saipan), Sheila J. Babauta (D-Saipan), Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan), Joel Camacho (Ind-Saipan), Donald Manglona (Ind-Rota), vice speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan), floor leader Ralph N. Yumul (R-Saipan), and John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan).<\/p>\n

The four who voted \u201cno\u201d were minority leader Angel Demapan (R-Saipan), Joseph Lee Pan Guerrero (R-Saipan), Roy Ada (R-Saipan), and Patrick H. San Nicolas (R-Tinian).<\/p>\n

Rep. Joseph Flores (Ind-Saipan) was the only one who abstained.<\/p>\n

The session went smoothly as there were no bitter debates. It was only San Nicolas who raised a few questions regarding the articles of impeachment.<\/p>\n

San Nicolas, Ada, Demapan, and Guerrero explained their dissenting votes during the miscellaneous portion when members cannot debate. Flores also explained why he abstained.<\/p>\n

Demapan said after the conclusion of the same investigation in the 21st Legislature, the findings of that investigation were provided to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Public Auditor which are the entities that hold the powers under the constitution to determine whether real improprieties were committed against the Commonwealth and the public\u2019s funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have not made that determination,\u201d Demapan said.<\/p>\n

He said also pointed out that the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee opened its investigation into Torres\u2019 expenditures of public funds and travels six months ago. \u201cAs we understand it, this investigation is still ongoing,\u201d said Demapan, adding that there is no JGO committee report to date since the investigation has not concluded yet.<\/p>\n

Without such a report, he said, the House members that are not members of the JGO committee lack the complete information and evidence to bring charges against anyone, be it a governor, lieutenant governor, or a judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timeline of this investigation is flawed and I wish that there was thoroughness over expediency,\u201d Demapan said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Christina Sablan said this impeachment resolution arises out of more than two years of legislative investigation, especially in the last seven months, through the diligent and meticulous work of the JGO committee.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the record is voluminous as they obtained and reviewed tens of thousands of pages of government documents from multiple departments and agencies, including but not limited to the Office of the Governor, the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Safety, and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut all these pieces together and what emerges is a pattern of waste, fraud, and abuse committed by the highest executive official in the land,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Propst said he is grateful that this impeachment process has come to an end and whether representatives vote for or against the impeachment, that\u2019s entirely up to them as it\u2019s their call.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a job to be fiscally responsible to ensure that spending is done the correct way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NMI Democratic Party chair Nola Hix said the 22nd House of Representatives has officially delivered on the people\u2019s mandate and that they commend JGO chair Babauta and the members for their \u201coutstanding work as the amount of time and monthslong effort given to this investigation was not an easy triumph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first step in eradicating corruption, abuse, and years of mistrust in the people\u2019s government that will take years to restore,\u201d Hix said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As expected and after a lengthy session, the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives approved yesterday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":359677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359676","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=359676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}