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Ethics Committee to tackle 2 complaints
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Posted on Feb 11 2022
The House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Official Conduct and Ethics will meet this Thursday in the House chamber to tackle two separate complaints.
In a notice issued yesterday, Ethics Committee chair Rep. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the meeting is intended to address matters referred to the committee. The meeting will start at 1:30pm.
Members of the public will be allowed to comment.
The committee will be tackling two complaints, referred to as REF No. 22-001 and REF No. 22-002.
Manglona
In response to Saipan Tribune’s inquiry, Manglona said he can’t disclose who the complaints are from since they’re marked confidential.
Prior news reports, however, have tagged Grace “Pitu” Sablan Vaiagae and Robert H. Hunter as having filed separate ethics complaints against Rep. Edwin Propst (D-Saipan).
Last Nov. 9, Vaiagae, who is a counselor for abused women, was reported in the news as having filed an ethics complaint against Propst over allegations that he had sex with several underaged women approximately 20 years ago when he was still a teacher at Marianas High School and an employee at the Northern Marianas College.
Separately, Hunter, who is the senior policy adviser at the Office of the Governor, filed an ethics complaint against Propst last Dec. 15 over the latter’s remarks that circulated on social media where he allegedly made physical threats and used inappropriate language against Hunter and other people.
Vaiagae and Hunter filed the complaints before House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan).
Propst
Propst has denied the allegations in Vaiagae’s complaint. He described the complaint as a “distraction” instigated by the NMI Republican Party and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to take the public’s attention away from the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee’s investigation into the governor’s expenditures of public funds and travels.
Propst described Hunter as a “cyber bully.”
Last Dec. 3, Villagomez created the Ethics Committee and appointed Manglona to chair the committee.
