‘Officials’ relatives are all over offices in NMI’

Assuring there is no nepotism and favoritism in his office, Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela said six of his employees voluntarily resigned either due to sickness or to leave the island to be with their families.

Tudela also explained that insufficient funding left them with no recourse but to cut its rank-and-file as per order from the Office of the Governor.

“Why would some people accuse us of nepotism and favoritism when relatives of officials in certain government offices are common—in the Governor’s Office, in the Legislature, and in other agencies,” said Tudela.

The mayor expressed surprised that the six who have resigned did not say anything against him in their resignation letters, yet suddenly some people are trying to create a controversy out of this.

“I would have been glad if they went out to express appreciation to me for giving them an opportunity to work with the Mayor’s Office, instead of accusing me of things that doesn’t happen. Now, we ended up absorbing their workload,” said Tudela.

Those who resigned were youth coordinator Olinka Chaudhry, executive secretary Florence Camacho Stephen, administrative assistant Liza DeLeon Guerrero, Mike Somorang, Nolin Cruz and Donald Mendiola from the human resources office.

Tudela said Guerrero and Cruz, whose contracts ended in March 30, resigned because they are going off-island.

One of them, he said, is also going to the United States to stay with her mother and another is going home because his father is sick while another could not continue working because he is sick.

The Mayor is taking his time to identify those who are accusing him of nepotism and favoritism.

“I think that these people are the ones who are coming late everyday to the office and just wait for their salaries to come,” he said.

The Mayor said he has told all his employees to “shape-up or ship-out” and that it is up to them to understand that.

“Most of the people working in this office are good and that’s what I know from the start,” he said.

The Mayor’s office, reports say, is at present has 26 employees, including some of close relatives.

A complaint against the mayor for “unfair practices” had been lodged with the Office of the Public Auditor and the Attorney General’s Office by Taotao Tano president Gregorio Cruz Jr.