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Villagomez asks Manibusan to prosecute Torres
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Posted on Dec 16 2021
Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) and Attorney General Edward Manibusan
House of Representatives Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) certified yesterday the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee’s statement holding Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres in contempt for not appearing before the committee pursuant to a subpoena.
Villagomez wrote Attorney General Edward Manibusan to request that he initiate prosecution of Torres.
He said the JGO committee did not take lightly its actions Tuesday when the members unanimously voted to hold Torres in contempt. He said it is only out of respect for the Office of the Governor as an institution and for comity between the branches that the JGO committee acted with the restraint and patience it has shown in the face of obstruction and intransigence.
“But the governor left little choice,” Villagomez said.
He said a legislative committee’s “ability to obtain evidence from the governor is in furtherance of the separation of powers principle, not in derogation of it.”
Saying the Executive Branch is a separate and co-equal branch of government under the Commonwealth Constitution, Torres said Tuesday morning that he will not be appearing before the JGO committee.
In a video posted on the Office of the Governor’s Facebook account, Torres described the JGO committee as “out of control” with a simple agenda to impeach him.
This prompted the JGO committee, chaired by Rep. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan), to vote “yes” to a motion to hold the governor in contempt.
Later in the afternoon yesterday, Torres and the Office of the Governor filed a lawsuit against the JGO committee to quash the subpoena.
Torres and the Office of the Governor, through counsels Joseph E. Horey and Gilbert Birnbrich respectively, asked the Superior Court to declare that the JGO Committee’s subpoena served on the governor is invalid and unlawful.
Torres and the Office of the Governor asked the court to issue an order quashing the subpoena and enjoining the JGO committee from enforcing the subpoena and House sergeant-at-arms Pedro Towai from arresting him.
