By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THREE Superior Court judges interviewed by this reporter about government paycuts expressed different views about the issue.
Associate Judge David A. Wiseman said the CNMI Constitution’s Article 4, Section 6 prohibits a judge’s salary from being decreased during his term of office.
Wiseman said a CNMI judge’s salary is not high when placed in perspective.
He said the code of judicial conduct, for example, requires a higher standard of conduct for judges than citizens, other professionals, or public officials, “and in many respects isolates a judge from the community.”
“The work we do is unique,” he said. “We are on call 24 hours. Police officers come to my house sometimes as late as midnight on urgent matters. I work every austerity day and am busy on those days at the court as well as every other day. When a jury trial commences, as one will next week, the time necessary to deal with the numerous issues that arise usually includes several additional hours after the 8 to 5 workday is finished.”
He said in the states and on Guam, some are advocating an increase in judges’ salaries “because they are losing judges.”
According to Wiseman, judges can make more money in private practice.
He said he is “mindful of the dire budgetary problems of our government, and although my salary has been affected by the cost of living increases over the last six years, I am in the public service of the people of the CNMI and not expecting a salary increase. However, I am also not expecting a salary decrease except the inevitable inflationary decreases.”
In a separate interview, Judge Kenneth L. Govendo said judges are not required by law to take a paycut. “Speaking for myself,” he said, “I have worked on all the austerity days. On many I have court hearings and the rest of the time I catch up on paperwork and reviewing orders and decisions. Most of the judges are not taking austerity days off. We have a duty to the public to keep the courts open as much as possible and to do our jobs as efficiently as possible. It is the nature of the judiciary.”
Judge Juan T. Lizama, for his part, said a paycut is something that needs to be discussed by the judges first.
“It’s not a good idea for every judge to explain his position on the matter but I think it’s a good question for the judges to consider in a group discussion. It’s a good question and it should be brought up among the judges. Each of us has a different position on this matter so I think we should discuss it first among ourselves,” Lizama said.
A CNMI judge receives $120,000 a year, while the presiding judge gets $123,000. The chief justice’s salary is $130,000 while an associate justice gets $126,000.
The governor, the lt. governor, the Washington rep., lawmakers, justices and judges are exempt from the 10 percent paycut imposed by Public Law 15-24, or the austerity holiday law.
But the governor, lt. governor and some lawmakers have volunteered to take paycuts in light of the cash-strapped government’s worsening financial condition.