DOES the Senate have ghosts employees?
Reliable sources said the ongoing Office of the Public Auditor investigation involves senators who are allegedly giving salaries to friends and relatives who are not working in the Legislature.
According to these well-placed sources, two senators have “ghosts” employees on their payrolls.
This issue started with Sens. Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, and Ramon S. Guerrero’s request for OPA to conduct an investigation on whether Senate Vice President Jose M. Dela Cruz’s daughter is a full time employee of Senate President Paul A. Manglona while attending the University of Guam.
Guerrero, American Reform-Saipan, said they received “an anonymous call from a Tinian resident” who inquired if they knew that Dela Cruz’s daughter was under Manglona’s payroll.
Well-placed sources, however, said Dela Cruz’s daughter could be on the payroll of Sen. Ricardo S. Atalig, R-Rota.
The same sources also alleged that Rosita S. Atalig, the wife of the senator, is an employee of Sen. Thomas P. Villagomez, R-Saipan.
Reyes and Guerrero are with the minority bloc. Manglona, Dela Cruz, Atalig and Villagomez are with the leadership.
Records of the payroll listing from the Department of Finance show that Dela Cruz’s daughter is an employee of Atalig.
As of April 19, 2002, Dela Cruz’s daughter was one of Atalig’s three staff in the Senate assigned to do community work on Saipan. The records state that she is receiving an annual salary of $15,999.36.
The Variety repeatedly tried but failed to contact Atalig. His staff told Variety that she did not know the senator’s whereabouts.
Variety also found out that Dela Cruz’s daughter, while assigned to do community work on Saipan, is actually on Guam as a full time student at the University of Guam. Variety learned Monday from a staff of the CNMI liaison office in Guam that she is a student at UOG.
This confirmed the Senate vice president’s earlier statement that his daughter had been studying on Guam for the past two years.
A member of the Tinian Municipal Scholarship Board, who refused to be identified, told Variety Monday that Dela Cruz’s daughter “is a full time student receiving scholarship grant from the board.”
The Senate vice president also said that his daughter is employed with the CNMI liaison office on Guam while studying at UOG.
This is contrary to the statement of the former staff of the liaison office who was on Guam from Sept. 2000 to Dec. 2001: “I didn’t know an employee by that name working with them during that time.”
According to Eloida Macaranas, manager of the Department of Finance’s Payroll Section, Dela Cruz’s daughter “is employed under the Senate account and not under the CNMI liaison office on Guam.”
The Department of Finance’s payroll list also shows that Rosita Atalig is working as legislative assistant of Villagomez and is receiving an annual salary of $19,999.20.
Sources at the Legislature, however, claim that Atalig’s wife “is getting paid without working.” They alleged that Villagomez is paying her while she is taking care of her family’s business on Rota.
