and adviser, lashed out at Taotao Tano president Gregorio Cruz Jr. for making “unfounded allegations.”
“The recent propaganda circulated by Greg…is baseless, malicious and a reckless disregard of the truth. He needs to be stopped and put in his place,” Rasa told Variety, addingthat their board of directors is determined to sue Cruz.
“Cruz stands liable and so is his writer for mass circulating the malicious statement,” Rasa said.
The former speaker was referring to Cruz’s e-mail to CNMI lawmakers describing Rasa as a “master of deception.”
In his letter, Cruz said the collaboration between Indigenous Affairs Office Resident Executive Gonzalo Santos and Rasa aims to promote the ruling Covenant Party.
Santos has said his office is working on the Chamorro translation of the Constitution and the revision of the Chamorro dictionary which Cruz described as a “waste of time and taxpayer money.”
According to Rasa, “Cruz has a misconception and a gross misunderstanding on how the translation should be done.”
He added that a linguist-professor in California who attended the recently held Chamorro Conference on Saipan was awarded a federal grant to develop a new Chamorro dictionary.
Cruz claims that Rasa’s group is a creation of the governor and the Covenant Party.
But Rasa said his group is not affiliated with any political party and is not funded by the government.
“We are not being paid by the government — we are not employees of the government and our recent collaboration with the Indigenous Affairs Office is simply to ensure that it complies with the mandate of the Constitution,” he added
Cruz said Rasa “advised” the governor to sue the federal government to stop the implementation of the federalization law, or U.S. P.L. 110-229.
Rasa said he has nothing to do with the governor’s decision.
He described Fitial as “a resourceful individual with an independent judgment — nobody could push him.”
“I’m not Covenant,” Rasa said. “I’ve been a Republican since birth. When I supported the lawsuit against the feds it doesn’t mean that I’m Covenant. Our organization is not a front of the Covenant Party and I don’t get paid by the CNMI government.”
Rasa said he challenges the Office of the Public Auditor to investigate his group’s ties with the Indigenous Affairs Office.
Cruz said Santos’s “hiring” is another example of hiring “who you know and not what you know.”
Rasa noted, however, that Santos used to be a teacher and has a bachelor’s degree.
“He is qualified to be resident executive of the Indigenous Affairs Office — Cruz is not,” Rasa said.
