Won Pat’s staff said she was invited to provide oral testimony before the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs legislative hearing on Public Law 110-229, concerning an amendment to allow Russian and Chinese visitors to Guam via the visa waiver program. Gov. Eddie B. Calvo has also been invited to speak before the subcommittee.
A source who did not wish to be identified said Won Pat’s name was on the panel to provide oral testimony, but CNMI Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the ranking member of the subcommittee, removed her name from the list.
The list was considered too long and the subcommittee had to bump people off, said the source.
The source said Sablan was “upset because no one from the CNMI Legislature was on the panel to testify, and so he took her [Won Pat] off the panel.”
But according to Sablan’s office, “Both the presiding officers of the Northern Mariana Islands Legislature and the speaker of the Guam Legislature were invited to submit written testimony for the hearing on the implementation of Public Law 110-229.
“The…subcommittee staff later reiterated in an e-mail to Speaker Won Pat that she was being invited to submit written testimony and not to testify in person.
“Congressman Sablan would certainly have liked to have [CNMI Senate] President [Paul] Manglona or Speaker [Eli] Cabrera testify in person, but has to defer to [Subcommittee] Chairman [John] Fleming’s decisions on who will testify.
“Kilili did not ‘snub’ Speaker Won Pat.”
Won Pat’s office told Variety that Bonnie Bruce, a staff member of the subcommittee, did inform her that the invitation was to submit written testimony only and not oral testimony.
“I wanted to make sure there isn’t any confusion with regard to the testimony. We have invited you to submit only written testimony for the hearing, not provide oral testimony,” Bruce stated in her email.
Won Pat left Guam on Monday and received the email when she was already in Hawaii.
