MPLA to MTC, PTI: Stop spreading lies

The Marianas Public Lands Authority has issued a strongly worded statement against the Micronesian Telecommunications Corp. and its new owner, Pacific Telecom, Inc., accusing these companies of trying to mislead the public “by spreading lies.”

In a statement that comes out in today’s newspapers, the MPLA board said that MTC and PTI negotiated with the agency “in bad faith.” It said the board members are “disappointed that the telecom companies are now resorting to lies and scare tactics, through the media, just to drum up community support for their wrongdoings.”

MPLA spokesman Ed Arriola, Jr. said that the entire MPLA board composed the statement.

“From the beginning MTC has negotiated in bad faith, which necessitated the filing of the lawsuit against MTC and its owner, PTI,” said the statement.

The board also said they thought the addition of Jose Dela Cruz to PTI’s negotiating team would be helpful but now they feel otherwise. “We have seen MTC/PTI continue to bully MPLA and others, including the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission, by paying an indigenous person to badmouth MPLA.”

Dela Cruz said in an interview yesterday that he would rather not comment on the statement and would prefer to read the entire statement in the newspaper.

MPLA also sent a letter to Dela Cruz, chiding him for statements that the former CNMI Supreme Court chief justice issued to the newspapers.

The letter, signed by MPLA lawyer Matthew T. Gregory, said that Dela Cruz’s statements violated Rule 3.6 (a) of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility, which bars an attorney from making “an extra-judicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be dismissed by rears of public communications and will have substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative preceding in this matter.”

The letter advised Dela Cruz to “stop and desist from these unethical comments” and threatened him with “appropriate action” if he does not refrain from releasing statements to the media.

Dela Cruz said he received the letter with a fax cover page addressing him as the chief legal counsel of PTI. He said he is not the chief legal counsel of the company but is a board member of PTI, MTC, and GT&E.

“[That is] in this capacity that I speak on behalf of the company,” Dela Cruz said. “I am not the legal counsel. That’s wrong. That’s not true.”

PTI’s chief legal counsel is Colin Thompson.

“Maybe [the] truth hurts,” Dela Cruz said, referring to his statements to the media. He said he has every right to say what he wants as a member of the board of directors. He said he has not practiced privately for two years now.

“Before they sent that letter to me, they should have checked with me first,” he said, adding that, had MPLA checked with him right away, the confusion could have been avoided.

Earlier this month, negotiations between Verizon and MPLA resulted in a deadlock, prompting the MPLA to file a civil suit against MTC and its new owner, PTI, seeking to evict the companies from their main Susupe offices and other facilities.

The MPLA and its board also asked the Superior Court for still unspecified damages for Verizon’s use of public lands where the telecom firm’s cables are buried. They sued Verizon for alleged violation of the Fiber Optic Act by charging inter-island tolls since it began providing services between Saipan, Tinian, and Rota over the fiber optic cables in 1997. Verizon only phased out inter-island tolls when PTI took over MTC on Sept. 20 this year.

In a 50-page complaint, the MPLA and its board enumerated 18 causes of action seeking compensatory and punitive damages against MTC and PTI. The suit accused Verizon of breaching its leases of public lands that include the 5,728-square meter Susupe facility. The MPLA contends that Verizon failed to remit to it the total rental amount due under the lease, which expired on June 30, 2000.