Teno accepts Cabrera’s resignation

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has accepted the resignation of Division of Environmental Quality Director Ignacio V. Cabrera, a week after receiving a memorandum that sought the governor’s approval for what he termed as retirement from government service.

The embattled DEQ chief, 45, quit his post amid pressure from the Tanapag Action Group and members of the Legislature who are apparently dissatisfied with his performance in addressing the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in the village.

Mr. Tenorio gave his concurrence only last Tuesday to the request which was dated December 5 and sent to his office on the same day.

The memo contained two boxes for the governor to check to indicate whether he approves or rejects the retirement of Mr. Cabrera.

The local chief executive was on Tinian yesterday attending a meeting of the Strategic Economic Development Council and could not be reached for his comment.

Mr. Cabrera’s resignation takes effect December 16, but he is expected to hold his last day in office tomorrow.

“I am very grateful for the support you have shown me in the years that I have been serving as [DEQ director],” he wrote in the one-page memo to Mr. Tenorio.

“DEQ has a very large responsibility to protect human health and the environment. When these responsibilities conflict with the forces of development, commercialism and public perception, a fine line often needs to be walked,” said Mr. Cabrera.

“I have done my best to walk that line in service to both of you and the people of the Commonwealth, as have many directors before me. It is with regret that I have not met your expectations,” he added.

Mr. Cabrera expressed regret also for retiring from government service, saying he would have preferred staying to work through the “perceptions and misinformation that continue to hamper resolution of many issues.”

Although he did not specify these issues in his memo to the governor, the outgoing DEQ director pointed to problems confronting resolution of PCB contamination in Tanapag as reason for his decision.

He also cited talks of oversight hearings in the Legislature on the PCB issue as well as the volatile organic chemical contamination in San Antonio in his separate letters to other top officials of the CNMI government and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“In addition to this, pressure is being exerted by the Tanapag Action Group and several members of the Legislature for my removal as the director of DEQ,” Mr. Cabrera wrote them in the Dec. 5 letter.

But he maintained the division, through his leadership, has been able to make “much progress” on several long-standing problems on the islands.

“[I]t would be my preference to continue working through the conflicts and misinformation until full solutions are achieved. However, there comes a point where perceptions override reality, and that point has been reached,” said Mr. Cabrera.