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Tinian Republicans prods Senate to declare vacancy
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Posted on Oct 15 1999
The president of Tinian’s Republican Party has asked the Senate to immediately declare vacancy in the seat left by Herman Manglona who resigned last Sept. 14 after pleading guilty to charges of bribery, mail fraud, and jury-tampering.
Elias Borja reminded the Senate that the Board of Elections (BOE) would not be able to call for a special election in the absence of a vacancy declaration.
“Any unnecessary delay to declare Manglona’s seat vacant, or any unnecessary delay to call for a special election is justice delayed for the people of Tinian,” Borja said in an Oct. 13 letter to Senate President Paul A. Manglona.
Herman Manglona was still two years away from completion of his four-year term when he quit from his senatorial post.
The election board is mandated by the Commonwealth law to conduct a special election to allow voters to pick a replacement who would complete the senator’s term.
Greg Sablan, BOE executive director, said the board has 60 days to call for a special election. Counting begins from the day the board was officially notified of the vacancy declaration, Sablan said.
Manglona was indicted at the federal court for soliciting and accepting bribe money from Sablan Construction Ltd., Inc. when he was mayor of Tinian.
During a plea bargaining with the US Attorney’s Office, Manglona admitted to all charges.
Court records showed that Manglona had raked in a total of $14,500 which he received from Sablan Construction in seven installments from February 1996 to December 1996.
According to court records, Manglona was paid off into awarding a municipal government’s contract to Sablan Construction.
According to the indictment, the anomalous transactions which involved federally funded programs, resulted in the US government’s giving the CNMI an excess of $10,000 in capital infrastructure funds for the period covered.
