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Impeachment committee’s 1st meeting is next week
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Posted on Dec 30 2021
The House Special Investigating Committee on Impeachment will hold its first meeting this Tuesday, Jan. 4, in the House of Representatives chamber.
Vice speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan), who chairs the committee, informed House members about the meeting that will start at 1:30pm. Included in the agenda are committee rules of procedures and the House Resolution 22-14 that impeached Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.
The committee will also entertain public comments at the meeting.
It was House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chair Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) who introduced House Resolution 22-14 impeaching Torres for alleged commission of felonies, corruption, and neglect of duty in violation of Article 3, Section 19 of the CNMI Constitution.
Last Dec. 21, House of Representatives Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) appointed Attao as chairman of the Special Investigating Committee on Impeachment that will evaluate whether to actually impeach Torres.
Attao is supporting Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios’ intent to run as governor for the November 2022 gubernatorial election. Torres, who is the titular head of the NMI Republican Party, is seeking re-election as governor, with Sen. Vinnie Vinson F. Sablan as his running-mate.
Villagomez also appointed to the committee eight members—Republican Reps. Angel A. Demapan, Joseph Lee Pan T. Guerrero, and Patrick H. San Nicolas, and Democrat Reps. Christina E. Sablan, Corina L. Magofna, and Leila C. Staffler, and independents Joseph A. Flores and Donald M. Manglona.
Villagomez said this Special Investigating Committee on Impeachment shall be an investigatory committee that is authorized by the House to issue subpoenas.
It will require a two-thirds vote of the House, equal to 14 representatives, to impeach Torres. If that happens, the impeachment then goes to the CNMI Senate, which will then hold a trial, with House lawmakers acting as prosecutors. Again, it will require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, equivalent to six votes, to convict the governor. When that happens, that’s when Torres will have to step down.
