{"id":364437,"date":"2022-03-18T06:03:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T20:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=364437"},"modified":"2022-03-18T06:03:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T20:03:07","slug":"quitugua-recuses-self-from-participating-in-impeachment-hearing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/quitugua-recuses-self-from-participating-in-impeachment-hearing-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Quitugua recuses self from participating in impeachment hearing process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Citing personal conflict of interest, Sen. Justo S. Quitugua (R-Saipan) has recused himself from participating in the impeachment hearing process in the case against Gov. Ralph DLG Torres. <\/p>\n

Quitugua informed Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) and Senate Special Committee on Impeachment Hearing chair Sen. Karl R. King-Nabors (R-Tinian) last March 8 that he will also recuse from voting on the articles of impeachment when it comes before the full Senate for a vote.<\/p>\n

Quitugua disclosed that Torres\u2019 maternal grandfather is his mother\u2019s sibling.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Quitugua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAnd in our close-knit community and Chamorro culture, familial relationship is intrinsically recognized and respected,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n

As of press time yesterday, Saipan Tribune was still waiting for Hofschneider\u2019s reply whether he rejected or accepted Quitugua\u2019s letter of recusal. <\/p>\n

Last March 10, Hofschneider created the Senate Special Committee on the Impeachment Hearing and, despite Quitugua\u2019s March 8 letter of recusal, appointed Quitugua as vice chairman.<\/p>\n

In his March 8 letter, Quitugua said that he had already verbally expressed sometime during the first part of February 2022 in Hofschneider\u2019s conference room\u2014with some members of the leadership present\u2014that he will be recusing himself from participating during the impeachment hearing process and voting due to a personal conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

Quitugua said in the spirit of transparency and respect of the \u201cconflict of interest\u201d provision in the official rules of the Senate and the NMI Constitution Article 2, Section 15, he has a compelling personal conflict of interest that he should disclose.<\/p>\n

The senator said that, although the NMI Constitution talks specifically about a bill, the Senate impeachment hearing process is unique and serious, if not more serious than any bill. He said he earnestly consulted his conscience whether or not he should actively participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn action to remove a governor from office is not only a serious matter but is also tantamount to overriding the majority in voting a governor into office,\u201d Quitugua said.<\/p>\n

He said as an elected official, he performs his duties in the public interest and avoids circumstances that compromise his ability to make impartial judgments on any basis other than the public good.<\/p>\n

Quitugua said he firmly believes that if there is something that could reasonably be deemed to compromise his impartiality or has the appearance of impropriety, he must abstain or recuse himself in order to maintain public confidence.<\/p>\n

He said although he has absolutely no pecuniary interest or benefit in the impeachment of Torres, however, it is critically important for him to be transparent on his familial relationship with the governor to dispel any appearance of conflict or impropriety.<\/p>\n

Last Monday, Sen. Teresita A. Santos (Ind-Rota) \u201crespectfully declined\u201d her appointment to serve as a member of the Senate Special Impeachment Committee.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider later rejected Santos\u2019 refusal, citing the lack of reason or justification.<\/p>\n

The other committee members are Sens. Francisco Q. Cruz (R-Tinian) and Victor B. Hocog (R-Rota).<\/p>\n

There will be a prehearing conference this Monday where the committee will discuss, among other deadlines, a date for the start of the impeachment hearings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Citing personal conflict of interest, Sen. Justo S. Quitugua (R-Saipan) has recused himself from participating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":364439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364437","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=364437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}