by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Former Port Authority of Guam general manager Mary Torres isn't giving up on concerns with the way the agency's legal counsel handled an investigation into an employee's workplace injury and Worker's Compensation claim. Torres filed ethics complaints today against Attorneys Mike Phillips and Jonathan Bell and the law firm of Phillips And Bordallo.

The complaint, filed with the Guam Bar Association's ethics prosecutor, accuses the Port's legal counsel of numerous ethical violations alleging the attorneys misrepresented themselves to Port workers and may have threatened employees to lie and made threats to refusing to do so. Torres is concerned that the attorneys may also be obstructing access to evidence or threatening other witnesses.

She stated, "It is unconscionable that Attorneys Phillips and Bell should be allowed to ruin the lives of innocent citizens, disregard their responsibilities as officers of the legal system and violate the public trust and rules they were sworn to uphold and defend."

She also alleges that while running the Port Authority, the legal counsel failed to timely submit invoices for payment and to properly allocate billings.

Attorney Phillips responded to the complaint filed today, saying, "The Board directed our firm to investigate an alleged claim for Workers Compensation. We prepared our report as requested. The Board acted unanimously in its conclusions regarding Ms. Torres. We are unable to comment on the facts uncovered as there are ongoing personnel matters in litigation."