Gov Fitial embroiled in Massage-Gate controversy

Haidee Eugenio




 
Shortly after the United States took control of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) immigration on Nov. 28, 2009, federal undercover agents began investigating a suspected human smuggling ring.
  Their patience paid off when, on Jan. 5, 2010, federal agents led by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the US Department of Homeland Security arrested 24 Chinese who were about to leave Saipan using a fishing boat to sneak into Guam.
  Putting local border control in the hands of US federal agencies could be the start of the end of human smuggling in the CNMI, a US territory with a population of some 60,000, many of them foreign workers from Asian countries like China, the Philippines and Thailand.
  Leonardo M. Rapadas, the US Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the CNMI, said the investigation and arrests were made possible by the CNMI’s recent transition to federal immigration control, and ICE’s increased presence in the CNMI.
  ICE is the largest investigative agency in DHS, the lead agency implementing the federalization of CNMI immigration.
  “These are positive developments for the CNMI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice to make sure that the United States and the CNMI’s borders are safe and secure,” Rapadas said.
  While the Chinese immigrants may have had permission to be in the CNMI under CNMI law, they were not authorized to travel to any other US jurisdiction such as Guam, which is only about 40 minutes away from Saipan by plane.
  Then and now
  One of the major human smuggling attempts to happen in the Marianas was in April 1999 when 147 Chinese men and women in a rickety fishing boat were arrested after an unsuccessful attempt to sneak into Guam. 
  At the time, such interceptions in the dangerously rough waters off Guam and the CNMI were too common as many Chinese attempted to escape harsh economic conditions in their country. But having 147 immigrants cramped in one old boat was the most number ever intercepted in one day.
  The 147 illegal immigrants, believed to be from the Fujian province of China, were brought to the CNMI island of Tinian by the US Coast Guard’s Sassa Fras. Half of the Chinese were seasick, and they were not told that they were headed for Tinian to avoid trouble.
  The US Coast Guard’s Sassa Fras was doing its routine patrol when it was ordered to intercept the fishing boat as it sailed towards Guam from international waters, about 80 miles from the island.
  The Chinese were temporarily held at the Tinian dock before they were transported by bus to the island’s Northfield, a former US military base, and made to stay at a temporary tent city.  Some of them sought asylum.
  From 1999 to 2009, several human smuggling attempts on much smaller scales have occurred and all of them involved Chinese nationals, including those with expired or valid CNMI work permits or CNMI student permits.
  In December 2005, for example, the US Coast Guard spotted a 21-foot boat 11 miles outside the CNMI island of Rota.  The boat was loaded with 14 “stowaway” Chinese trying to sneak into Guam. 
  They had CNMI worker/entry permits that were either already expired or were about to expire at the time of their arrest.
  On the same month the following year, 11 overstaying Chinese workers were arrested onboard a 20-ft boat at Saipan’s Smiling Cove Marina as they were about to attempt to sail to Guam. The authorities filed deportation cases against them.
  Only a few days later, federal and CNMI authorities foiled yet another human smuggling attempt to Guam when they arrested five Chinese onboard a boat on Saipan. 
  The immigrants admitted that the purpose of their trip was to enter Guam illegally. They were to be dropped into the sea near Guam and would just swim to shore. 
  These were just some of the examples of foiled human smuggling. During those years when the CNMI’s once almighty garment industry that employed thousands of Chinese workers started to feel the pinch of the lifting of world trade quota, the Asian economic crisis, and pressure from Washington, DC to improve Saipan’s garment industry workplaces, local and federal authorities were able to see an increase in Chinese immigrants trying to sneak into Guam.
  The stories of “boat people” have not changed in years. They told authorities that they each paid thousands of US dollars to human smuggling syndicates to be able to go to Guam through fishing boats.
  “Human smuggling is a dangerous, multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise that puts those involved at significant risk. ICE is committed to working with its partners in local law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to not only disrupt this kind of activity, but to identify and dismantle the criminal organizations behind it,” said Wayne Wills, the special agent in charge who oversees ICE investigative activities in Hawaii, Guam and the CNMI.
  With the same US immigration laws now applying to CNMI effective November 28, 2009, the 24 Chinese who were caught on January 5, 2010 still wanted to go to Guam, which is not only larger but where the minimum wage is much higher than that of the CNMI.
  They were arrested before their boat sailed off, to minimize harm. The group included 18 males and six females.
  Two of the 24 arrested were the alleged ringleaders of the group. Jian Li and Qing Mei Cheng were indicted on the same day they were arrested on 22 counts of alien smuggling, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(2).
  The 22 other Chinese were each charged with attempted improper entry into the United States.
  The arrests were the result of a month-long undercover investigation led by ICE, along with the assistance of the US Coast Guard, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Marshal Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and CNMI authorities.
  A major twist
  Three days after the 24 Chinese males and females were arrested on Jan. 5, 2010, CNMI Governor Benigno R. Fitial asked CNMI Corrections Commissioner Dolores Aldan for the temporary release of one of the female defendants—28-year-old Qing Mei Cheng—whom the governor described as one of his best massage therapists. 
  The governor said from the night of Jan. 7 to the early morning of Jan. 8, he was suffering from severe back pain.
  Fitial underwent two major spinal surgeries in October and December 2006.  Since then, he has been having persistent pain from the neck to his lower back. He chose not to take painkillers but has relied on massage therapy to relieve him of the pain.
  The corrections commissioner allowed the temporary release of the governor’s masseuse from prison. The defendant was brought to the governor’s private residence in the early hours of Jan. 8 to give the governor a massage thera py. Qing worked for Yuyu Spa or Healing Stone until the day she was arrested for human smuggling.
  In a statement to the media, Fitial and the corrections commissioner said for the whole duration of the massage, the corrections commissioner, three other corrections officers and first lady Josie Fitial were present.
  The temporarily release of a defendant from jail to give the governor a massage at his house gained the CNMI governor notoriety, and the story was carried by major international media outlets—from Asia Pacific to the United States mainland and Europe.
  The controversy, labelled by critics as the CNMI’s “Massage-Gate,” happened just three days before Fitial was to take his oath of office on Jan. 11 for a second term. 
  Fitial, 64, is only the second governor in CNMI’s history to be re-elected.  He’s also the first to be elected in the CNMI’s first gubernatorial runoff election on Nov. 23, 2009, and the first governor to serve a five-year term because of a ratified legislative initiative requiring the conduct of general elections only on even-numbered years. Whoever succeeds Fitial will go back to serving a four-year term.
  The “massage” controversy has created an uproar especially in CNMI that some community members have been mobilizing calls to ask Fitial to resign, be recalled or be impeached. 
  But lawmakers, the Office of the Public Auditor and other agencies are on a wait-and-see mode, as they let the CNMI Office of the Attorney General and the US District Court for the CNMI to determine the governor’s violations and that of the corrections officer for the release of an inmate to give the governor massage.
  “I made this request because this was an unusual situation where I needed to address the extraordinary pain I was experiencing and also wanted to follow proper procedures before a detainee is released from custody, even if only temporarily,” Fitial said in a statement a day after news broke about the prisoner “takeout.”
  ‘Wrong, irresponsible’
  But while the governor earned sympathy for his severe back pain as a result of major spinal surgeries, his decision to order the release of his jailed masseuse is described by many as absolutely wrong, irresponsible, ludicrous, and an outrageous abuse of power. 
  “His actions were absolutely wrong no matter how he tries to justify or explain them, and he is absolutely responsible for the choices he has made.
  “There are no good excuses, and no easy scapegoats. The buck stops with him,” said former CNMI Representative Tina Sablan, who successfully sued the governor over non-disclosure of financial records associated with the CNMI government’s lawsuit against federalization last year.
  The US Attorney’s Office prosecuting the human smuggling case involving the governor’s masseuse asked for an evidentiary hearing on the unauthorized release of the inmate on the governor’s order.
  US District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson originally set the evidentiary hearing for Jan. 15, but this was reset for Feb. 17 at the request of CNMI Attorney General Edward Buckingham, who needed more time to review the basis for the hearing. 
  The attorney general also started investigating the temporary release of the prisoner without prior authorization.
  “Massage-Gate” is not only one of the controversies the governor has found himself.  Just a few days earlier, his former driver was sentenced for dealing drugs, sometimes right after dropping the governor at his office and using the governor’s official car.
  As if the governor’s problems are not enough, his second term in office also has to deal with the continued decline in government revenue, plunging tourism arrivals, the adjustments resulting from losing control of local immigration, and local politics.