Deposition of subpoenaed officials fizzles out

In an anti-climactic twist, government officials subpoenaed to appear in court yesterday in connection with the ongoing Malite case did not take the witness stand after attorney general Pamela Brown’s lawyers withdrew a request for preliminary injunction on the release of the $3.45 million land compensation funds.

Benjamin Sachs, the Attorney General’s Office’s civil division chief, withdrew the request that was supposed to be heard yesterday, following Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig’s withdrawal of his authorization on the drawdown of the land compensation claim by the Malite estate.

Atalig’s withdrawal rendered moot the request for preliminary injunction, which had sought to prevent the claim’s release to Malite estate administrator Jesus Tudela.

The withdrawal of the injunction request also rendered moot the subpoenas issued to several government officials, including Gov. Juan N. Babauta. Defendants Marianas Public Lands Authority, its board of directors, and acting commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero had wanted these officials to produce documents and have them examined on the witness stand in connection with the injunction request.

Government officials led by Babauta, as well as heirs to the Malite estate, had packed the courtroom of Superior Court judge Juan T. Lizama yesterday but, instead of testifying, ended up being part of the audience.

“We didn’t object [to the withdrawal of the injunction request],” said Malite estate attorney Pedro Atalig, who added, though, that he questions the sincerity of the Attorney General’s Office. “We feel they’re playing with taxpayer’s money.”

“We were ready to proceed and show that this [land compensation] claim is more than legitimate,” added Atalig.

MPLA attorneys earlier subpoenaed Babauta, Brown, Fermin Atalig, Sachs, assistant attorney general Daniel L. Furrh, CDA board chair Sixto K. Igisomar and executive director Maria Lourdes S. Ada.

Babauta and Fermin Atalig filed Wednesday their respective requests to quash the subpoenas against them, but the judge denied the requests, prompting the officials to appear in court with their attorneys.

The two officials and the attorney general filed with the Supreme Court yesterday morning a petition for a writ of mandamus, which seeks to compel judge Lizama to vacate his order denying the quash request and to grant that request.

Sachs, however, withdrew the injunction request in the Superior Court proceeding. No deposition of subpoenaed witnesses took place.

MPLA and Malite estate attorneys jointly asked the court to impose sanctions on the CNMI government and hold them liable for the defendants’ attorney’s fees for failing to inform them ahead of time that the injunction request would be withdrawn. MPLA lawyer Matthew Gregory said this resulted in unnecessary waste of time and costs associated with yesterday’s appearance in court.

Former government officials—Gov. Froilan Tenorio, attorney general Robert Torres, and congressman Stanley Torres—joined the packed gallery of the courtroom.

Defendants in the suit include the MPLA; acting commissioner Deleon Guerrero and its board of directors, including chairperson Ana Demapan-Castro and members Nicolas Nekai, Felix Sasamoto, Manny Villagomez, and Benita Atalig-Manglona; the Commonwealth Development Authority; and Tudela, the estate’s administrator.

Brown had filed the lawsuit on behalf of the CNMI government, citing a “strong appearance of ethical impropriety and conflicts of interest,” in the MPLA’s approval of the land compensation claim by the Malite estate, a matter that had been decided by the Trust Territory court in 1978.

In that order, the TT court awarded some $3,682 to the estate for condemnation of some 6,900-sqm lot that now forms part of Saipan’s Marianas High School. The estate claimed that it has not received any payment from the government.