“I AM not resigning,” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said on Tuesday. “The issue between former Gov. [Benigno R.] Fitial and myself is totally different,” he added during a media briefing on KKMP radio.
Ralph DLG Torres
In Feb. 2013, Fitial became the CNMI’s first governor to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He resigned before the Senate could hold a trial.
Torres acknowledged that his political opponents have the number to pass the impeachment resolution in the 20-seat House, but he reiterated that he is not guilty of the allegations of corruption, neglect of duty and felonies of theft.
He is also hoping that the Senate will conduct a fair trial.
If six of the nine senators vote for his conviction, Torres will be removed from office.
“I am confident that the proceeding will not go further,” Torres said, referring to the looming trial in the Senate. Unlike the Democrat-led House, the Senate is controlled by the governor’s fellow Republicans.
Torres said there are many issues that certain members of the House do not want to acknowledge because of their own political agenda.
“For example, [Democrat Rep.] Tina Sablan is running for governor…so she has a motive to ensure that she will try everything she can to remove me [from office] because that will mean one less opponent,” Torres said.
“If someone has charged…you for beating up [someone] should you be sitting [on the House investigation] panel?” he added, referring to Rep. Vicente Camacho.
He said he is hoping that the House Special Committee on Impeachment will have members who will look at the facts with fairness.
The House Democrat-independent bloc has 11 members while the group supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios has four members.
At least 14 members of the House are needed to approve the impeachment resolution.
Torres said whatever the outcome of the process, he is still willing to work with the Legislature. “There’s a lot of issues that need to be addressed. I don’t hold grudges, and we need to move forward.”
Lawsuit
Asked about the inclusion of House sergeant-at-arms Pedro Towai in his official capacity as a defendant in the lawsuit the governor’s lawyers filed on his behalf against the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, Torres replied, “I would like to say, for the record, that his name should not [have been] included.”
He said his lawsuit is asking the judiciary to resolve a dispute between the executive and legislative branches.
“Any legislature who is not happy [with the governor] cannot just go ahead and subpoena the governor. Can [they also] go ahead and subpoena the Supreme Court chief justice or any of the judges because [the Legislature] doesn’t like who they are?”
Torres said the Democrat-led House JGO is asserting an unconstitutional dominance over a separate and co-equal branch of government.
