139 ink petition for ouster of Mafnas

A petition seeking the immediate ouster of Department of Public Safety Commissioner Ramon C. Mafnas was submitted yesterday to the offices of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos.

A total of 139 personnel at DPS Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, signed the petition. Special assistant for administration Esther Fleming was also given a copy of the petition.

According to the petition, “Mafnas’ authoritarian leadership, confrontational approach, micro-management, and lack of faith and trust in the staff of the Department of Public Safety has brought a never ending fear of reprisal, humiliation, and degradation within our rank and file.”

The signatories said they “stand ready to provide witness to such incidents.”

Capt. Pete Leon Guerrero, officer-in-charge of Police Legal Services, delivered the petition and admitted he is spearheading the move to kick Mafnas out from DPS.

“Every time he goes up there [DPS], he embarrasses us. I feel like an idiot up there. Not just me, but the rest of the guys, the command staff,” Leon Guerrero told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Leon Guerrero said that Mafnas runs the department like a dictator; they are not allowed to open their mouth.

“We’re asking, appealing to our leaders—Gov. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Inos—to listen and help us,” he said.

Now that the petition is with Fitial and Inos, Leon Guerrero said that DPS personnel are just waiting for these officials to sit down with them to discuss their concerns.

Leon Guerrero said many other DPS personnel are still coming in to sign the petition on top of the 139 that already signed.

DPS has 197 personnel on Saipan; 32 on Tinian; and 26 on Rota.

A total of 108 personnel on Saipan, 12 on Tinian, and 19 on Rota signed the petition.

“Some of our personnel are scared to sign it because of retaliation or some type of getting back to them. I’m going to respect that. Nobody is coerced to sign the petition,” Leon Guerrero said. “I’m doing this for my guys, for the department.”

He said he had high hopes when Mafnas first assumed the post of commissioner. However, a lot of problems began surfacing and the situation at the department started deteriorating, he added.

Capt. Lawrence Camacho, then chief of DPS Criminal Investigation Bureau, wrote to chief prosecutor Peter Prestley about Mafnas’ questionable actions in the investigation into the murder of bartender Emelita Romero. In that letter, Camacho alleged that Mafnas interfered with the investigation.

Last Friday, Saipan Tribune broke the story about complaints that Mafnas allegedly threatened to arrest, handcuff, and shoot two Filipino security guards and a Korean dive instructor in separate incidents in Marpi.

In response to the issues, Mafnas said he welcomes any independent investigation by federal and CNMI authorities. He said the allegations are the products of individuals “with ulterior motives to fulfill their selfish agenda.”

Mafnas denied he deliberately interfered with the investigation in the Romero case and blamed three to four “sore” senior officers at DPS of being behind these allegations.