Open letter to the Senate president

By PETE P. REYES
Special to the Saipan Tribune

Dear Sen. Paul A. Manglona: Thank you for your May 9 letter where, once again, you reiterated your accusation of the reasons for my recent actions in the sessions. Let me first make this absolutely clear that the removal of my wife from the Legislative Bureau and her replacement by Mr. Mel Mendiola (the son of the mayor of Rota) has nothing to do with the positions I’ve taken on issues and debates in the Senate sessions. It is perhaps a blessing that she moved on to open what is now a successful business venture. She always dreamt of opening her own business and in preparation for it, went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and obtain a master’s degree in Management.

It is suspect, however, how you seem to attach only the list of those who signed the removal petition of my wife. Knowing you, it is a ploy you seem to be very skillful in setting me up to work against the House leadership. I regret to inform you that it won’t work. You see, it is not in the best interest of the people of the Commonwealth for me to work against the members of the House of Representatives. Rep. Teresita Santos signed the petition and yet I am committing my full support for her re-election. This is your styIe to divert attention away from the loss of confidence that I have heard the majority of the people of Rota have on you. But it is not an exaggeration that you always put yourself above the best interest of the people. You’ve done this throughout your terms in office. This is my observation and my opinion, having worked with you for many years.

I am aware that there was numerous meetings you arranged outside of the Legislative Building to conveniently avoid my inclusion. This accounts for the six months you indicated in your letter to me, and you have conveniently excluded me from any discussions regarding the affairs of the Senate. You’ve done this during the 13th and the 14th Legislature to suit your political ambition. The funny thing is that I know you well enough not to trust you, but when you apologized to me, I put that aside to attend to the welfare of our people. But you are up to your old tricks again and, by golly, I am not going to stand aside anymore and let you submit our people to any more sufferings.

As for the Senate members from Tinian and my two colleagues from Rota, there is no animosity and no personal vendetta. In fact, I’ve repeated several times how they often outsmart you on legislations and actions on issues. If anything, I have a lot of admiration for them. You are the problem and where the people of the CNMI stand to suffer, I will continue to speak on their behalf. My decisions post the removal of my wife only hone my ability to be more focused and clear. You are not going to detract my focus by your innuendos and gibbering. How can the people be better served when you refused the invitation of the governor to put aside differences and work to solve the crisis we face? Your constant bickering and blaming the House of Representatives does not serve to help the situation. These are your trademarks to shift the blame of your inaction and blame the governor and the House of Representatives. I don’t always agree with the governor but I maintain a good working relationship with him because I owe the public to do so.

You raised the issue of my attendance and disposition as both a senator and toward my coworker. This is funny coming from a senator and president of the Senate who shows up to work two or three days a week. Let me assure you that when constituents and reporters come up to the Legislature, it is I who they find and it is I who answer their telephone calls. This includes many of the calls from Rota because they cannot find you. My office maintains the time clock for all three of us working in the “Office of the People.” I believe, and I hope I’m wrong, that I am the only elected member of the Legislature that clock in and out and register the mileage of the government vehicle that we use in our office. That, Sen. Manglona, is verifiable. You, on the other hand, show up most of the time twice or three times a week. Some may question where you could be the rest of the week you are on Saipan. I leave that up to their imagination. Sadly, you cannot prove this because you don’t time in and out like I do when I report to work. I do this to make sure that there is accountability to the public. Though the public may view my attendance somewhat differently from you because I am not paid as a member, you on the other hand, should be more accountable and responsible to the public because you are paid from their taxes.

Please don’t use my wife again as an excuse to justify your inability to address solutions for the crisis that we face. You may recall how many times I’ve said that we are “a crisis legislature” because I want to impress upon you that the only time we act is when a crisis is upon us. It seems that you don’t pay attention when the warning signals are lit up right before your eyes that a certain crisis is imminent. Then when the crisis hits the fan, you pretend to be surprised. You are the president of the Senate, address the solutions of the CUC, CHC, PSS, DPS, and Retirement Fund crises because all you have done so far is introduce legislation that will fix one problem and create four more. If you wish I can list them for you but I’m sure you got my meaning. I’m not like you. I won’t tell you that it is not your business to interfere in the needs of the people of Saipan because Saipan has their senators. Rather, I encourage you to work with all of us (the governor, the House of Representatives, and the rest of the senators) to do something that will ease the pain and suffering of our people. If you cannot do that, step aside and let Victor Hocog do that job for you.

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Sen. Pete P. Reyes is the Senate floor leader.