Edward Manibusan details plans to repeat as CNMI's attorney general

In regional news, the race for the Northern Mariana Islands' next Attorney General is heating up. KUAM News sat down with Edward Manibusan, the first-elected AG who is running for re-election. He opens up about the historic criminal charges filed against Governor Ralph Torres and the staffing shortage at their office.

In 2014, Attorney General Edward Manibusan won the first election for the CNMI Attorney General. After being re-elected in 2018, he's nearing 10 years of serving as the chief legal officer. And he wants to serve for another 4 years, running against former judge Juan Lizama in November.

Manibusan said, "Throughout the last 7 years it has actually been a challenge because of the newness of the office and I think the agencies were not accustomed to the way that the office was going to handle the legal affairs of the Commonwealth, which is centralization. So it was very difficult and even up to today there is still some resistance to what we do here."

And what the AG has done or hasn't done has faced more scrutiny in recent months. For the first time in Commonwealth history, his office filed criminal charges against sitting Governor Ralph Torres for misconduct in public office, theft, and contempt. Torres was acquitted of simlar charges in the first ever Senate impeachment trial in May. The AG's case is ongoing.

"And we this, all of this methodically...Charing a person without any basis is really against the law to begin with and our job is to ensure that we promote and ensure justice, not just prosecution, but we follow the law when we review cases and if there is probable cause we will charge," he said additionally.

Manibusan says his office continues to defend the NMI in employment lawsuits, land compensation cases, and multi-state issues. But, the office is understaffed.

He shared, "We are responsible for giving legal advice to 59 executive departments, autonomous agencies, public corporations. That is a lot. And we only have 11 attorneys right now in this office compared to 15 executive departments. We're handling lawsuits of major proportion."

Amid the struggle, voters this election will decide who will keep the wheels of justice turning.