SENATE Floor Leader Vinnie Sablan in an interview on Tuesday responded to the concern of minority bloc Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero regarding his recusal from the governor’s impeachment trial in the Senate despite his involvement in the drafting of the Senate impeachment rules.
Sablan is Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ running mate in this year’s election.
The Senate on Tuesday heard Torres’ motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment against him.
“I believe and I stand by my decision…not…to…participat[e] in the entire process of the impeachment based on what is stated in the Constitution. I took an oath to uphold that, and that is what I’m doing right now,” Sablan said, referring to his recusal letter he submitted to Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider on March 28, 2022.
On the same day, the governor’s legal counsel filed a motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment.
Regarding his involvement in the drafting of the Senate impeachment rules in February, Sablan noted that the rules can be used in the future.
“We decided to draft and create rules that would carry out any impeachment proceeding moving forward…. The future leaders of our CNMI may want to change that, and it will be their decision to do that,” he added.
“I do have an obvious conflict, and that is why I presented that letter to the [Senate] president and I stated my conflict,” he said.
“I voted on the Senate rules for impeachment to drive…the process, but I saw, moving forward, that my participation in the actual vote and the decision to impeach the governor — that I had a conflict based on the Constitution,” he said.
“The rules came first… I did participate in the vote for that, of course, just merely to support rules that would drive and direct this process,” he reiterated.
Regarding his absence from the Senate chamber after telling the media that he would be physically present for the proceedings, Sablan said, “I came in today, ready to participate in the event that the Senate president denied my request for recusal. This morning, when we stepped into a meeting before the proceeding started, [the Senate president] accepted my recusal based on the request of my letter, and I was advised to recuse myself in its entirety from the process. So, that is why I wasn’t present in the chamber today, but I was present in the building all day, listening to the…comments from our general public.”
Besides Sablan, Senate Vice President Justo S. Quitugua has also recused himself from all impeachment hearing matters due to a conflict of interest.
In a letter to the Senate president dated March 8, 2022, Quitugua said his mother and the governor’s maternal grandfather are siblings, therefore making him and the governor’s mother first cousins.
The governor will be removed from office if at least six of the nine senators vote for his conviction.
According to the Constitution, the Senate “may convict after hearing by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members.”
The Senate president said “members” means all nine members.
Vinnie Sablan
