James Castillo, 17-year-old resident of Garapan, said “the governor should have just admitted his mistakes and apologized to the people.”
He and his friends noted that in an earlier statement, Fitial admitted that he “made the request” — the release of a federal detainee who was also his masseuse — “because this is an unusual situation wherein I needed to address the extraordinary pain I am experiencing.”
But on Tuesday, in an interview with KSPN 2, Fitial denied that he ordered the masseuse to be brought to his house.
K.C. Reyes, a resident of Gualo Rai and a student of Northern Marianas College, said Fitial “changes his statements the way a girl changes clothes.”
Another student of NMC, who declined to be identified, said she was “ashamed” that she voted for a governor “who is facing a controversy he doesn’t know how to handle.”
Other teenagers who also voted for Fitial said they might have made the wrong decision.
On Tuesday, Variety tried to get a statement from the governor’s office, but the new press secretary, Angel Demapan, refused to comment, saying “the statement we released to the media on Jan. 14 remains our statement.”
