Govt officials beat deadline to file financial statements

 Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos, several lawmakers, and other government officials rushed to file their 2011 statement of financial interest with the Office of the Public Auditor by yesterday’s deadline.

Others, including some lawmakers, said they were unable to beat the May 1 deadline but they said they will file their financial statements today or before the end of this week.

Despite the May 1 deadline, the law provides a 30-day grace period. After that, government officials will be fined $10 for every single day that they fail to file their statement of financial interest.

At past 1:30pm, government officials continued to drop by the OPA on Capital Hill to file their financial statements personally. Some relegated the filing to their staff.

David S. Palacios, director of the Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance Division, said he almost missed the filing deadline. Palacios said he downloaded the form from the OPA website.

“If they reminded me ahead of time, I wouldn’t have rushed to file it. Obviously they never reminded me,” he told Saipan Tribune in an interview while he’s filing his financial statement with OPA.

A few moments later came Rep. Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan), followed by Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) and Rep. Trenton Conner (R-Tinian) who also filed their statement of financial interest.

“Usually, I get my notification in the mail. I don’t know what happened,” said Conner, as he requested a form from OPA, filled it out, and submitted it to OPA within minutes.

Press secretary Angel Demapan, when asked for comment, said the governor and lieutenant governor’s statements of financial interest were filed by staff yesterday afternoon. Demapan said he also filed his yesterday.

“We never miss deadlines,” he said.

In separate interviews with Saipan Tribune, at least 18 of 29 lawmakers said they have already filed their statement of financial interest as of the May 1 deadline.

At least seven of those lawmakers filed theirs yesterday, including Iguel, Basa, Conner, Rep. Joe Palacios (R-Saipan), Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan) and Sen. Henry San Nicolas (Cov-Tinian).

Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan) said he filed his on March 27. “I just wanted to get it out of the way,” he said.

Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota), for her part, said she filed hers much earlier-in January.

The others said they filed theirs in recent days and weeks, including House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan), House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan), Reps. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan), Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan), Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan), Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan); House minority leader Joe Guerrero (R-Saipan), and Sens. Frank Cruz (R-Tinian) and Ralph Torres (R-Saipan).

As of early last night, OPA has yet to respond to media inquiries as to the number of government officials required to file their 2011 statement of financial interest and the number of filers who were able to beat the May 1 deadline.

Under 1 CMC Section 8511 of the Government Ethics Code Act, all elected and appointed Commonwealth officials, judicial officers, and executive department heads or directors are required to file a statement of financial interest. The statement includes government officials’ income, and financial interests in real estate, among other things.

Unlike many other jurisdictions, CNMI law does not make public financial statements. The assets and liabilities of elected officials are not readily available for public inspection. OPA can only release the documents with consent from the filer.