Remember when the Guam Police Department excused its failure to arrest Ray Tenorio in 2018 by saying they could not act on the commission of a crime because no one had filed a criminal complaint against the former lieutenant governor? Remember how many days between the July 4, 2018 block party, where Mr. Tenorio seized the firearm of an active duty police officer, and the filing of charges against him for the act?
A police spokesman at the time said GPD could not investigate the lieutenant governor until they received a complaint; so, I filed one. Only then, and only because of mounting public pressure, did GPD investigate and forward the case to the attorney general without making an arrest.
Sound familiar?
It has been 21 days since Port Authority of Guam marina manager Frankie Rosalin – Lt. Governor Joshua Tenorio’s brother in law – allegedly terrorized seaport general manager Rory Respicio before punching holes into the GM’s office in an alleged fit of rage. The argument, according to Mr. Respicio’s criminal complaint to port police filed on the day of the incident – March 12, 2025, stemmed from Mr. Rosalin’s alleged dismay that his relative was not selected for a classified job at the seaport. Alleged in that criminal complaint were details of a corrupt relationship Mr. Rosalin and his partner, Mr. Tenorio’s sister Charissa Tenorio were accused of wielding over government operations.
Despite the criminal complaint from Mr. Respicio, port police did not arrest Mr. Rosalin. Seven days before the incident, Guam Police Department officers arrested four minors for destroying public property. Eight days after the incident, GPD officers arrested an Inalahan man for destroying public property after an alleged fit of rage. To this day, Mr. Rosalin has not been arrested. The case was forwarded by port police to the Office of the Attorney General two Fridays ago. Attorney General Douglas Moylan confirmed this morning that he will be meeting with his assigned prosecutor and investigators this week on the matter. Meanwhile, Adelup is doing all it can to distract the AG and the public from this injustice.
Let’s reason this whole thing out.
Do you believe there is corruption in the government of Guam? If your answer is ‘no,’ then you don’t have to waste your time with the rest of this editorial.
If there is corruption in GovGuam, the people who would know about it are inside GovGuam. They are the employees who witness or are part of it, whether of their free will or under duress.
If we want to unveil the corruption and bring the corrupt to justice, investigators and prosecutors will almost certainly need the cooperation of these inside witnesses.
Witnesses cooperate for a range of motives that almost always is overshadowed by a powerful factor of unmotivating fear.
They fear retribution. They fear the loss of their jobs. They fear being ostracized. They fear attention. They fear the bullies and trolls in the shadows spreading hate and rumors meant to undermine their credibility. They fear harm to themselves, their families, and their property. They fear the abusive power of the powerful.
Think about every witness to corruption within GovGuam who has been wrestling with their conscience about whether and when to approach the FBI, the attorney general, or Guam Police (or for that matter, port police), who is watching this Rosalin-Tenorio case unfold.
Think about how their hope in defeating their silence has been doused each day that went by since the public found out about the incident, and no arrest was made.
Why would any of these witnesses come forward about corruption in our government if they see this Rosalin case and reason to themselves that all that will ever come of breaking their silence is the coverup of the corruption, and the attack on their reputations, livelihood, and even their lives?
The only reason we in the public know about the allegations against Frankie Rosalin and Charissa Tenorio is because of Rory Respicio’s criminal complaint that was leaked to KUAM’s Nick Delgado. [By the way, we cannot stop applauding Mr. Delgado for his work in breaking this story]. Mr. Respicio could have done what countless GovGuam witnesses have and continue to do: succumbed to fear of the powerful and remained silent. Instead, he bravely filed that report on the same day he was allegedly victimized. He started the steps of a pathway to criminal justice.
As people desiring criminal justice and the crackdown on corruption, are we going to abandon Mr. Respicio, especially as it seems his own port police force has abandoned him and the pursuit of criminal justice? If we leave him flailing in the wind, what message does that send to anyone else – especially those with less political power and influence that Mr. Respicio has – who knows about corruption and wants to say something to the right people?
It goes without saying that if the lieutenant governor’s brother in law does not face the justice system for what he allegedly did on March 12, then fat chance getting anyone else in GovGuam to come forward with their accounts of corruption and crime. Worse than that, the Josh Tenorios of this island will receive a clear and chilling message: they can victimize whoever they want with complete impunity.
And they will. Until our criminal justice system does what is right in this case.
1 Comments
Mary
04/03/2025 at 9:29 AM
This has been going on forever,and will continue.🤕😩