by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Governor's Chief of Staff George Bamba is defending his actions when it comes to settling with off-island contract to DRC, Inc., which was hired by the government to conduct cleanup work following Supertyphoon Paka. Bamba contends the Attorney General's Office advised him to settle, saying the court record shows proof of a memorandum from an assistant AG involved in the case who said the case should be settled and that congressional appropriation should be sought in order to settle it, which he says was done.

DRC filed suit against the government for payment, but the AG's Office contends the company was overpaid by possibly $2,000,000. Bamba says the Government of Guam is still being sued and if invalidated, he says it's going to cost the government even more money since DRC already completed the work.

"If he invalidates the settlement then the government would still have to pay the vendor," said Bamba. "Where we going to get the money? Well, we had the money from the congressional appropriation, but now since it was earmarked specifically for that purpose to resolve that case. The Government of Guam would have to give the money back to the Treasury of the United States, which we don't have. But then it seems kind of ironic going after the a company we owe money to pay us money for work that they did, liability that the government incurred, they're going to sue us again and its going to end up costing us more."

Superior Court Judge Alberto Lamorena heard a motion to dismiss the case a year ago on December 5, but according to court clerk's he still has not issued a decision in the case.