House clears way for Tinian special polls

Tinian voters can now elect a new senator to fill the seat left by resigned Sen. Herman M. Manglona after the House of Representatives on Friday completed the legislative process of allowing the Board of Elections to call such political exercise.

A joint resolution was adopted during Friday’s session by representatives which officially declared the Tinian seat vacant. The Senate acted on the same measure on Nov. 12, nearly two months after Manglona resigned when he pled guilty to charges of bribery, jury tampering and mail fraud at the federal district court on Saipan.

The resolution, offered by four senators, heads now to BOE to set the date of the special polls and to seek candidates for one of the three Senate seats of the Tinian municipality.

According to the resolution, BOE officials must immediately begin administering the requirements of the law, such as meeting the deadline for the nominating petitions by candidates seeking the position, within 60 days from the receipt of the legislative measure.

The board will then schedule the election at least six days before the expiration of the two-month period “to ensure smooth and efficient election process” in light of the urgent need to fill the vacancy, the resolution said.

The winner in the voting will be sworn in immediately to serve the remainder of Manglona’s term. The former senator was elected in 1997 for a four-year term, which means that the new senator has less than two years to complete the mandate.

The adoption of the resolution, sponsored by Sens. David M. Cing, Joaquin G. Adriano, Thomas P. Villagomez and Pete P. Reyes, cleared conflicting positions in the upper house over Manglona’s resignation.

Cing, who heads the Credential Committee which screens members of the Senate, earlier had said that they would have to await the court’s sentence before acting on the resignation.

Manglona resigned from the Legislature a day after pleading guilty to the charges filed against him in connection with federal projects he administered while still a mayor of Tinian. The federal district court is scheduled to hand down its sentence on Dec. 21.

This is the first time that an elected official has resigned from his position and the Senate had apparently different views on how to deal with the situation. Both Reyes and Villagomez favored immediate declaration of vacancy.