Documents show that the Tinian Mayor\u2019s Office employs immediate family members of the mayor, pays 71 community workers, 11 public relations staff, and 13 administrative and reception staff.<\/p>\n
Based on the list, Tinian Mayor Francisco M. Borja has under his office\u2019s payroll the following: his father, Elias M. Borja, serving as mayor\u2019s tourism assistant and park development; his companion Bernadita DLG. San Nicolas as chief public relations and the community outreach program; daughter Maria Bernadita O. Borja and son Shawn SN. Borja as community workers; brothers Jose and Ricardo Borja as parks and maintenance worker; brother George Borja as special projects division supervisor; first cousin Donicio Borja as parks and maintenance worker; and brother-in-law Herman Palacios as social worker; among other close family members.<\/p>\n
They receive annual salaries that range from a low of $18,000 to a high of $50,000.<\/p>\n
The municipal office has a total of 161 FTEs.<\/p>\n
Mayor Borja explained, through, that this happens partly because there are no private jobs on the islands, forcing the government to be the main employing agency. At the same time, he said one cannot avoid hiring relatives in a small place like Tinian.<\/p>\n
Official lists show that the Tinian Mayor\u2019s Office employs six administrative assistants receiving salaries from $18,000 to $28,000. This is on top of two administrative officers that receive $36,000 each.<\/p>\n
Further, aside from having a chief for public relations, the office also has a senior public relations and an assistant public relations, a public information specialist, a public information officer, two public relation staff, and three public relation assistants.<\/p>\n
Public relations and public information staff receive annual salaries that range from $18,000 to $50,000.<\/p>\n
Based on the list, the mayor\u2019s companion, Bernadita, is the highest paid staff in the office, even higher than his $43,200 base salary.<\/p>\n
The office\u2019s 71 community workers receive an annual salary of $15,000 to $26,000.<\/p>\n
When reached yesterday, Borja said he does not hide the fact that some of his immediate family members are on his office payroll. More importantly, he said that his family members are working.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hide them and I don\u2019t hire them to sit around and get paid. I hire them because they are working. I don\u2019t keep them in the office. A lot of them are working in the field and they are really working,\u201d said the mayor.<\/p>\n
Besides, he said, working with relatives in a small island like Tinian is not surprising.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a small island. If you look at the list, maybe a lot of them are not Borja or Manglona, but somehow they\u2019re relations. In this small island, almost everybody is your family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As for his father, he said that the older Borja has been with the municipal office way before he became a mayor.<\/p>\n
On the presence of several community workers, he said this happens partly because \u201cthere are no private jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is the main employing agency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The mayor also noted that all the FTEs under his office were created by the Legislature and approved by the governor. \u201cIt\u2019s me who created all these positions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The mayor cited politics as behind the disclosure of his personnel list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are they making this a big issue now when I\u2019m not even running? If you look at the list, even the Republicans, they have families under my payroll,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Borja, who belongs to the Covenant Party, ends his second term by January next year.<\/p>\n
He accused his political opponents of \u201cmaking up issues to put me in a bad light.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut people love me that\u2019s why they voted me to office twice. And Covenant is going to win again in this elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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