In an interview yesterday, Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, said Antonette Villagomez was merely expressing her opinion which was not supposed to “mislead” the public about the issue.
Tenorio said other lawyers will have other opinions, as he reiterated his earlier statement that municipal government employees are not part of the CNMI’s central government and, thus, should not benefit from the Retirement Fund.
Employees of the Los Angeles City government cannot be employees of the California state government, Tenorio said, so municipal employees of Tinian, Rota and Saipan cannot be part of the commonwealth’s central government.
Villagomez’s legal opinion stated that the mayors, municipal councils and municipal employees of Rota, Tinian, Saipan as well as the resident departments of Rota and Tinian are part of the government of the CNMI and are eligible to participate in the Retirement Fund program.
But Tenorio said the Senate legal counsel may not be familiar with the U.S. District Court ruling declaring that the Tinian municipality was chartered and it could sue and be sued.
Tenorio was referring to the lawsuit filed by the federal government against the Tinian municipality over a $2 million breach of contract.
Tenorio said the attorney general at that time refused to represent then-Tinian Mayor Francisco M. Borja because he was not part of the central government.
The Tinian municipal government also claimed that it was not a chartered municipality and not capable of suing and be sued.
The U.S. District Court however, ruled that the municipality was chartered and could sue and be sued.
Tenorio said his concern is backed by this federal court ruling.
