Frequent travel not limited to MPLA board

Besides board members who traveled off-island almost every month, other officials of the Marianas Public Lands Authority also made frequent travels almost each month in the past year and spent even more for travels than MPLA board chair Ana Demapan-Castro, the board’s highest spender for travels during the period.

Unaudited monthly summaries of travel advances at the MPLA show that commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero made a total of $46,941 in travel advances from February 2005 to January 2006. DeLeon Guerrero’s total travel advances exceeded Demapan-Castro’s $34,919 by more than $12,000.

MPLA legal counsel Ramon Quichocho’s travel advances for the same period totaled $37,185, exceeding those of Demapan-Castro by more than $2,000. Quichocho said, though, that all his travel advances were justified. MPLA spokesman Ed Arriola Jr. had earlier defended agency officials’ travels.

Per diem fees received by DeLeon Guerrero and Quichocho for the trips exceeded the total amount of per diem received by Demapan-Castro for the year, netting $17,852.45 and $13,940.49, respectively. Demapan-Castro’s total per diem fees for the period only reached $13,773.97, the highest among those received by MPLA board members.

Both DeLeon Guerrero and Quichocho made travel advances of $10,235.38 each on Nov. 9, 2005—their most expensive single travel. Each received per diem fees of $3,489.38 and spent $700 for car rentals and ground transportation for trips to Honolulu and Washington, D.C.

MPLA documents show that DeLeon Guerrero and Quichocho were to meet with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and then with a certain Tom Crowe regarding the MPLA’s lawsuit against Micronesian telecommunications Corp. The documents reflected the date of the duo’s departure and arrival on Saipan on Nov. 17 and 28, respectively. Quichocho refused to divulge details of the meeting with Crowe, citing attorney-client privilege.

During that month, DeLeon Guerrero’s travel advances totaled some $11,108, of which some $3,933.44 pertained to per diem fees. Quichocho’s travel advances for the month totaled some $10,340, including total per diem fee of $3,530.94.

Many of DeLeon Guerrero and Quichocho’s monthly travel advances have four-digit figures. On March 17, 2005, the duo made travel advances of $6,798.65 each for a 10-day trip to Hawaii from March 20, with each receiving per diem fee of $2,000. DeLeon Guerrero also made a travel advance for a Hawaii trip in July in the amount of some $6,616, $2,000 of which pertained to per diem fee and $560 for car rental and ground transportation.

Quichocho did not make any travel advance in July. However, the following month, his travel advances totaled some $9,236. Besides making inter-island trips, Quichocho’s travels for the month included a five-day trip to Honolulu, for which he made a travel advance of $6,060. Per diem amount for the Honolulu trip reached $1,500, excluding $420 for ground transportation.

Quichocho also made a trip to Guam and the Philippines in August 2005, together with DeLeon Guerrero and board member Nicolas Nekai. Quichocho, like Nekai, made a travel advance of $1,986, including per diem of $975, while DeLeon Guerrero’s travel advance totaled $2,336 covering a $975-per diem fee and $350 for ground transportation.

The trio also made a trip to the Philippines’ Manila and Cebu from June 23 to 28, 2005, for which Quichocho and Nekai made travel advances of $1,958 each, including per diem amounts of $800. DeLeon Guerrero’s travel advance was higher by $350 for ground transportation.

Also in that month, Quichocho and DeLeon Guerrero traveled to Japan from June 2 to 9, for which each of them made a travel advance of $2,567, which covered per diem fees of $1,540 and ground transportation costs of $105. DeLeon Guerrero made the travel advances for the Japan trip on May 26.

Quichocho said he and other MPLA officials went to the Philippines before MPLA’s filing of the lawsuit against MTC in early October 2005 to establish a relationship with Pacific Telecom Inc., which was buying all common stocks at MTC.

He said he and other MPLA representatives went to Manila again last year in connection with a meeting related to pozzolan extraction on Pagan, and then proceeded to Cebu for “related” matters. He did not disclose specific details, citing attorney-client privilege.

On Dec. 6, 2005, DeLeon Guerrero made a travel advance of $7,621 to attend a conference in Seattle, Washington. Going with DeLeon Guerrero were Demapan-Castro and Nekai, both of whom also made comparable travel advances.

The three officials attended the Western States Land Commissioners Association conference from Jan. 8-12, despite the scheduled inauguration of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial on Jan. 9. DeLeon Guerrero reported back for work at the MPLA’s Saipan offices only on Jan. 20.

In all, the Seattle trip cost MPLA $22,425.34 for the officials’ attendance to a four-day conference at the Hotel Monacco Seattle. Each official’s per diem fee cost MPLA $2,661.18, excluding airfare and ground transportation and “other fees.”

Board members of MPLA made travel advances totaling more than $105,000 for the past year, receiving over $44,000 in per diem fees excluding board compensation, with unaudited monthly summaries of MPLA travel advances showing most board members traveling off-island almost every month.

The totals do not include travel advances for January 2005, for which the MPLA’s summary of travel advances did not reflect specific persons who made the fund request, including board members. Travel advances for January 2005 totaling $63,328, which covered some $22,711 in per diem fees, is the highest monthly total from January 2004 to January 2006. MPLA spent nearly $750,000 in travel advances during the two-year period.

Travel advances from February 2005 to January 2006 show MPLA chair Ana Demapan-Castro with the highest amount of travel advances among the board members. Nekai followed Demapan-Castro in the top post, with his travel advances totaling $29,585, including a total per diem fee of $11,384.82.

MPLA vice chair Manuel P. Villagomez had the third highest total in travel advances, which cost MPLA some $22,956. His total per diem fee for the period reached $11,689.74; board member Felix Sasamoto’s travel advances for the period totaled $12,077, including a total per diem fee of $3,958.36; and former board member Benita Manglona had a total travel advance of some $6,263, more than half of which went to per diem fees.