Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero displays a copy of a document as she makes her remarks during the miscellaneous part of the Senate session on Monday.
“I NEVER moved to the ‘dark side.’ ”
Thus said Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero in a session on Monday as she responded to the comments of Reps. Marissa Flores and Manny Gregory T. Castro regarding the reorganization of the Senate Committee on Judiciary Government & Law.
Deleon Guerrero has removed fellow Saipan Democrat Sen. Celina R. Babauta as committee chair and replaced her with Republican Sen. Karl King-Nabors of Tinian.
Stressing transparency, which Deleon Guerrero said she has never wavered from since she was elected senator in 2020, the Senate president exhibited a copy of Section 5(d) of the Senate Rules that allows three members of a committee to constitute a quorum and to hold public hearings and meetings.
She also displayed a copy of Babauta’s memorandum last year, appointing Sen. Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, as the JGL committee’s vice chair, Senate Vice President Donald Manglona, Ind.-Rota, and Sen. Dennis Mendiola, R-Rota, as members.
She also presented Mendiola’s letter in July last year, resigning from the JGL committee so that a member from Tinian could be appointed instead.
Deleon Guerrero said “nobody’s being thrown under the bus.”
She recalled that she herself, in the spirit of transparency, had respectfully requested Babauta, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations, to consider the inclusion of Senate minority members on her committees so that they would represent all the senatorial districts.
The response she got from Babauta, Deleon Guerero said, was “I will think about it.”
Deleon Guerrero said she asked Babauta twice. “And so, I…let it go. I would like to think that in her good conscience she would do the right thing.”
Babauta did not attend the session on Monday.
According to Deleon Guerrero, “We are just speaking transparency and the truth. A lot of things have been said out there, made fun of, been accused of.”
She reiterated that she has never wavered from transparency and has never stopped being accountable to the public. “I take this job seriously. I have no time for politics. I have no time to play with the lives of the people. I never moved to the ‘dark side,’ ” she said.
Deleon Guerrero said she was the woman on the street “fighting the casino operator when its workers were screaming to be paid.” She said she was removed as secretary of Labor for “doing the right thing.”
She said she created the special committee to look into the $200 million American Rescue Plan Act Trust Fund, and that committee “is working hard to be transparent to the people.”
Deleon Guerrero said she was behind the idea of obtaining a line of credit from the Marianas Public Land Trust to address the central government’s funding shortage. “I utilized my skills with the background in banking and insurance, making that recommendation to the governor and as we speak today, that particular agreement has been executed and signed.”
She said she introduced Senate Joint Resolution 23-5 last year, urging Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and President Joe Biden to hold Section 902 consultations.
“I speak transparency and accountability and trust. Respect to the people. There’s no room for games. There’s no room for lies. No more. Let’s be honest. All these documents are available to the people. Transparency and accountability, and the truth,” said the Senate president, who is seeking re-election in November as an independent.
Her opponent is Rep. Manny Gregory T. Castro, who is running as a Democrat.
Narrative
Sen. Dennis Mendiola speaks during the miscellaneous part of the session on Monday.
Responding to Flores’s comment that the House and the Senate have reached a stalemate, Sen. Dennis Mendiola said “that is not true.”
He said it is also not true that the Senate president is “sitting” on House bills.
“I just want to make sure that this narrative is clear. I can tell you that in the Senate, we try to go through these bills in the committees and make sure that everybody’s concerns are addressed,” Mendiola said.
He said in the November 2022 election, the people had spoken, and elected those who are now in the House, the Senate and the executive branch.
He said it is easy to keep saying it’s the governor or the former governor that is the problem.
“That kind of narrative should have been over when the election ended,” he added,
“So with that, let’s rebuild trust. It’s not about Republicans, it’s not about Democrats or independents for that matter, it’s about us moving the CNMI forward and working for the people,” he said.
Noting that everybody’s struggling, he said “if we are going to just keep washing our hands and blaming it all on the previous administration, that [may seem] the easiest way to get out of the situation.”
But “I’m out there and people are expressing their frustration. Everything in the paper, everything in the media is about who’s corrupted, who’s stealing what. While we are doing that, as legislators, as leaders, our people are still struggling. It’s a shame. It’s time for us to step up as elected officials and work together and move forward,” Mendiola said.
Not fair
Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, R-Tinian, said for “every single thing that went wrong, they blame us, the Republicans and I think that is not fair.”
“We are here to work together for the betterment of everyone,” he added.
Cruz said in the beginning of the 23rd Senate the members of the minority, especially those from Tinian, were not assigned to the EAGI or JGL committees.
He said he repeatedly reached out to Sen. Paul Manglona, the chair of the Senate Rules Committee.
“He kept on insisting that Sen. Babauta was just waiting for us to be in those committees,” Cruz said.
When he sat down with Babauta to discuss the matter, her response was, “I will see to that.” But Cruz said “nothing ever happened.”
“So I felt we were not wanted in the committee. So I don’t know why the House is blaming us. If we are not wanted in the committee, what can we do?” he asked.
Senate Floor Leader Corina L. Magofna delivers her remarks.
Senate Floor Leader Corina L. Magofna, Ind.-Saipan, said when King-Nabors asked her to join the JGL committee, she agreed even though she is already a member of all the other committees.
She said she recognized that her district should be represented in the committee.
As much as she wanted to say no, Magofna said, she couldn’t do it because “I would feel so guilty knowing that I would let the people of the Third Senatorial District down for not even representing them in the JGL committee.”
She added, “There is no ‘conspiracy’ in me now serving on a committee chaired by King-Nabors. I am simply taking on the additional responsibility because I have a fiduciary duty to fulfill as a senator for the Third Senatorial District…. There is no bad intent in any of this.”
Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, said “there is only one president in this chamber,” and she is responsible for the organization of the committee. He said they need to support the Senate president’s decision to appoint King-Nabors as JGL chair.
“I think the message is clear — the Senate president wants us to move on legislation that matters, that can improve the lives of the people of the CNMI,” he added.