By Jacob Nakamura
(Tumon, Guam) Sen. Jim Moylan has asked Sen. Sabina Perez to compel the participation of key Adelup staffers by using her power to subpoena them to an oversight hearing scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m.
Ms. Perez's oversight hearing will be focused on the governor's legal counsel's procurement of hotels for quarantine and isolation facilities. The hotels were procured illegally: without any price quotes, purchase orders, direct payment requests, authorizing signature, certification of funds, or contract. Payments were made in the absence of these legal requirements on the direction of legal counsel and governor's son in law Haig Huynh, then by order of Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero herself.
Huynh, Borja, and Tumaneng may be questioned on forgery
Part of the so-called procurement record for the original four hotels - Hotel Santa Fe, Wyndham Gardens, Days Inn, and Pacific Star Hotel - are two sets of letters signed by Ms. Leon Guerrero designating these four sites as the government's quarantine and isolation facilities for incoming travelers and returning residents. The first set was a March 18 letter to the hotels that had only the governor's signature on it. The second set was the same letter, but with public health director Linda DeNorcey's digital signature on it.
On April 1 at 5:07 p.m., Mr. Haig's assistant in the legal counsel's office, June Borja, emailed his other assistant, Laurie Tumaneng, stating:
"Per Sophia's instructions, kindly requesting if you can insert Linda DeNorcey's digital signature on the attached four (4) letters please, and send back to me to send out? We have obtained Ms. DeNorcey's approval to use her digital signature on the attached letters."
Ms. DeNorcey has since refuted her knowledge of the use of her signature on those documents.
Twenty three minutes after Ms. Borja's email, Ms. Tumaneng responded with the letters bearing Ms. DeNorcey's signature attached with the note, "Attached are the letters affixed with signatures."
Mr. Moylan asked about the forgery allegation during the Legislature's last oversight hearing, conducted by Sen. Therese Terlaje, when Ms. DeNorcey stated, "As for the call, I do not recall the call," referring to any calls from Adelup to her for approval for the use of her digital signature.
"Because of the contentious nature of this hearing, it is possible that key personnel from the administration may not attend, and if the objectives of this discussion are to address vital questions, it is critical that we assure maximum participation," Mr. Moylan stated in his letter to Ms. Perez. "It is with this that I humbly request that you as the Chairperson of this Standing Committee, consider utilizing your authority to subpoena those key individuals who elect "not" to participate on Thursday, to indeed attend. While I respect the 'trust the process' concept, we also have to accept the reality, and with the community tuned in to this particular oversight, we need to assure that their questions are answered by the proper parties."
Kandit has asked Ms. Perez whether she is considering the use of her subpoena power, and whether she will subpoena Mr. Huynh, Ms. Borja, and Ms. Tumaneng to testify before the committee. We await her office's response.
Lying under oath is a felony, punishable by jail time.
