The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency repatriated Saluta, a Filipino national, through Guam on Aug. 17, 2001, a day after he was due for sentencing in Superior Court.
On Sept. 6, 2011, Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja gave more time for both parties to file pleadings, and rescheduled the next hearing for Oct. 27, 2011 to resolve the motions to release Saluta’s passport and exonerate his bail.
The AGO said Saluta’s passport and bail should be forfeited because he violated his release conditions by not appearing for sentencing, adding that he became fugitive from justice.
But the Public Defender’s Office said Saluta at that time was detained by federal authorities who escorted him to the Philippines.
The Philippine Consulate General earlier informed the AGO that the Philippine government owns Saluta’s passport.
According to Assistant Public Defender Douglas Hartig, the CNMI government “has suffered no cost, inconvenience or prejudice. The government is in contact with federal authorities. It seems clear, by the government’s own motion to obtain Mr. Saluta’s passport on behalf of a federal agency, that the government has tried to facilitate Mr. Saluta’s non-appearance by trying to expedite the removal process.”
Hartig told the court that Saluta’s passport and the $525 cash posted for his release should be returned to his wife, Juliet.
A jobless nonresident, Saluta was convicted of assaulting an individual with a knife in an incident that occurred on April 19, 2009.
Saluta’s wife, a former garment worker, and their five young children are still on island.
