THE Democrat and Independent-led House Committees on Judiciary and Governmental Operations and Ways and Means on Tuesday issued a subpoena duces tecum and a subpoena ad testificandum or summon to give oral testimony to Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig, Commerce Secretary Edward M. Deleon Guerrero, the Office of the Governor, Bank of Saipan President John Arroyo and Bank of Guam, to provide information related to the Building Optimism, Opportunity and Stability Together program which is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.
The JGO chair, Rep. Celina Babauta, said she and the Ways and Means chair, Rep. Donald Manglona, decided to call for a joint meeting because Atalig and Deleon Guerrero had “completely ignored” their joint letter requesting information about BOOST.
During the joint committee meeting on Monday, Rep. Tina Sablan made the motion to issue the subpoenas to Atalig, Deleon Guerrero, Arroyo and the Office of the Governor.
Aside from Babauta, Manglona, and Sablan the other JGO members, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Reps. Edwin Propst, Richard Lizama and Vicente Camacho voted to approve the issuance of subpoenas.
All the 10 members of Ways and Means — Manglona, Babauta, Sablan, Propst, Lizama, Reps. Denita Yangetmai, Joel Camacho, Vicente Camacho, Corina Magofna and Leila Staffler — also voted to approve the subpoenas. Reps. Patrick San Nicolas and Sheila Babauta were absent.
In the continuation of the meeting on Tuesday, Sablan moved to add Bank of Guam to the list of subpoena recipients which the committees unanimously approved
The subpoena duces tecum is for the following BOOST documents of information:
1) List of applicants who have been awarded, and the amounts awarded.
2) Applicants who have been denied or still waiting for dispositions on their applications.
3) All contracts awarded that are related to the BOOST including but not limited to administration, marketing and advertising, event planning or other aspects of the program.
4) Any guidance, regulations requirement internal or otherwise governing the administration of the program as well as correspondence related to the administration of the program.
5) Any criteria used in reviewing applicants, the names of the review panel and description of the review and decision-making process.
6) The sources of funding.
7) The total amount of funding, the amount actually available and the caps on BOOST awards, if any.
Fact-finders
Babauta said they were not holding an “anti-business” committee meeting. They are “fact finders” who want “to learn more about the BOOST program.”
She added, “I sincerely hope that those who applied would get the financial assistance they need.”
She said there are constituents who have reached out to her to share their “frustrations with how the program is being implemented, and the unfair approach in administering it.”
Propst said the governor himself should be subpoenaed because he is the spending authority.
“Why doesn’t he come up here and show up and give us the list that we ask?” Propst asked.
He said if the governor is saying it is not political, and is not about “buying votes,” then “why won’t he release the list and why won’t he tell us who received and how much?”
“We are told that we are anti-business yet all we are asking for is fairness, transparency,” Propst said.
Manglona said they are “trying to have an open communication with these agencies, yet there are lots of questions that need answers.”
Sablan said the Finance secretary has been quoted as saying that there is nothing to hide in the BOOST program.
“We have certainly heard that line before, many times by none other than his boss, the governor himself, and the governor has been quoted saying there is nothing political about the BOOST program,” she said.
“Nothing to hide, and yet they hide. They hide so much,” Sablan added.
In an earlier interview, Atalig said he had already requested information from the grant administrator, Bank of Saipan President and Chief Executive Officer John Z. Arroyo, who was off island.
Atalig said as soon as he receives the requested information from Arroyo, he will forward it to the House.
“There’s nothing to hide here. [Bank of Saipan] are the administrators…. We provide the funding and they do their due diligence,” Atalig said.
The House Ways and Means Committee and Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee conduct a joint meeting Tuesday in the House chamber.
