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Justice Manglona, judges Naraja and Govendo up for retention election
Associate Justice John A. Manglona, Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja, and Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo will be up for retention election this November.
Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro disclosed during Friday’s proclamation signing for May 1 Law Day that Manglona, Naraja, and Govendo are next on line for the retention election.
Manglona, Naraja, and Govendo have not publicly discussed their intent to serve additional terms on the bench.
Under a constitutional amendment, the question of whether justices or judges will be retained shall be put to a vote at a general election immediately before the end of that justice’s or judge’s initial term of office.
Then-governor Pedro P. Tenorio appointed in April 2000 then associate judge Manglona as associate justice. Manglona was sworn in in June 2000, joining then-chief justice Miguel S. Demapan and then-associate justice and now Chief Justice Alexandro Castro in the three-seat CNMI Supreme Court.
Then-governor Pedro P. Tenorio appointed Naraja in November 2001 as associate judge. Two years later, then-governor Juan N. Babauta appointed Naraja as presiding judge.
Babauta appointed Govendo as associate judge in 2003.
In November 2007, voters overwhelmingly voted for the retention of Manglona, Naraja, and Govendo.
With their retention, Manglona’s term that expired in 2008 was extended for eight more years, while judges Naraja and Govendo, whose terms expired in 2009, received additional six years.
In 2003, Juan T. Lizama was the first then judge in the CNMI to be retained on the bench.
Timothy H. Bellas and Virginia Onerherheim-Sablan were the only then judges who failed to get the majority voters’ confidence.
