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OAG, OPD, MLS open temporary offices at Judiciary
The CNMI Judiciary has opened up its facilities in Susupe to house temporary offices for the Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division, the Office of the Public Defender, and the Micronesian Legal Services because of Typhoon Soudelor’s power disruption.
As this developed, Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro and associate justices John A. Manglona and Perry B. Inos and some Judiciary staff conducted yesterday another damage assessment at their facilities in Susupe in order to finalize their report.
Manglona, in an interview yesterday with Saipan Tribune, disclosed that the OAG requested the Judiciary last week if they could use their facilities to open a temporary office for the Criminal Division.
“So we have our computer training room for them. They have their own computers and printers here,” Manglona said, adding that OAG is not only using the room but also the Judiciary’s Internet capability.
Manglona said the same thing goes for the Office of the Public Defender, which they authorized to use two witness rooms as their temporary office.
He said the Micronesian Legal Services also temporarily moved their office to the Judiciary on Tuesday.
As for damage assessment, Manglona said there are major flooding in some areas of the building, but that they are fortunate to have their staff clean up everything.
“We are now looking at the entire facility on what else needs to be done. It’s good thing we had a repair early this year and that mitigated our damage,” he said.
Manglona said they had their preliminary damage assessment last week, and with yesterday’s assessment they are just finalizing their report.
He said their report will be submitted to the Executive Branch or at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
On the power issue, Manglona said they are operating the Judiciary’s generator four hours a day.
“We recognize that it’s better to operate every day, even though in certain hours only,” he said.
He said they will continue with the schedule next week, but they will issue a public notice regarding the schedule of the Judiciary’s operation next week.
“Right now we’re on a week-to-week basis,” Manglona said.
