THE Senate special session on Monday was cut short after a heated argument broke out between two of the islands’ longest serving elected officials: Rota Sens. Paul A. Manglona and Victor B. Hocog.
Hocog, who was first elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1983, spewed profanities at Manglona who was first elected senator in 1987 as a Republican.
Hocog, who is now a Republican, aggressively approached Manglona, now aligned with the Democrats, before being stopped by sergeant-at-arms Benjamin Terlaje and Democrat Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero.
For his part, sergeant-at-arms Pedro Towai stopped Manglona from approaching Hocog with the help of Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, a Republican, who stepped down from his rostrum to intervene.
Prior to the altercation, Democratic Rep. Corina L. Magofna was at the podium to offer her “public comment in her professional capacity.”
After Hofschneider asked Magofna to adhere to the time limit for each public comment which was three minutes, Manglona questioned the Senate president for interrupting the House member.
Hofschneider, for his part, reminded Manglona, a former Senate president, that he could not speak without first being recognized and called upon by the presiding officer.
Manglona stormed out of the chamber.
Following a public comment by private citizen Vincent Seman Aldan, Manglona returned to the chamber and took to the podium to comment as “a private citizen,” but Hofschneider said the Senate was going into recess and that the public comment period of the special session had ended.
“Mr. President,” Manglona said, “I come here not as a member of the Senate. I come here as a member of the public. I am here as a common citizen of the Commonwealth. You cannot stop me from talking here, Mr. President. Declare me out of order; whatever you want. Don’t allow me to sit in my chair. But I am a member of the public and under public comment, I come here as a common person and I want to say my peace because during the committee meeting of the impeachment committee, they did not allow the public to say their peace.”
Hofschneider tried to cut in, but Manglona continued speaking. “Mr. President. I don’t want to speak as a senator. I want to speak on behalf of the public. I have been waiting here, Mr. President, for the last few minutes, so please allow me to [speak]. Can you please allow me to [speak]? You can send me out from the discussion in the Senate, but I want to speak. Mr. President, I want to speak on behalf of the public. I don’t want to speak for the Senate. I want to speak for the people out there that, Mr. President, you have chosen to put a tape on their mouths. I think that the people deserve to be heard.”
Hofschneider declined to reopen the public comment portion of the session and asked Manglona to take his seat — otherwise he was free to leave.
For nearly 20 minutes while the Senate was on recess, the senators continued to argued.
Eventually, Hofschneider asked Senate Floor Leader Vinnie Sablan, a Republican, to move to adjourn the special session to which there were no objections.
The special session ended without a discussion on the proposed Senate impeachment rules.
The Democrat-Independent-led House has been critical of the proposed impeachment rules drafted by the Republican-led Senate.
Once the rules are adopted by the Senate, it will proceed to conduct a trial of Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres who was impeached by the House on Jan. 12, 2022 for commission of felonies, corruption, and neglect of duty. He has denied the allegations.
He will be removed from office if six members of the Republican-led Senate vote for his conviction.
Sen. Paul A. Manglona points at someone in the Senate chamber as he continues to deliver his comments in the lobby even after the microphone was turned off during Monday’s Senate special session.
Victor B. Hocog
