Frankie Rosalin – Lieutenant Governor Joshua Tenorio’s brother in law – was not fired for his alleged March 12, 2025 workplace violence and destruction of public property incident against seaport general manager Rory Respicio, according to documents released by the Civil Service Commission. Instead, he was demoted from marina manager to a position where he now is paid more than $52,000 a year. And in an appeal, where Mr. Rosalin is asking the CSC to reverse the demotion and to award him “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs,” Mr. Rosalin mentioned an April 7, 2025 meeting, where he insists political power brokers predetermined his demotion outside the merit process. That meeting, according to sources, involved Governor Lou Leon Guerrero.
Documents at the CSC reveal more.
Mr. Respicio – nine days after his March 12, 2025 criminal complaint that Mr. Rosalin destroyed public property and terrorized him in Respicio’s office – fired another seaport employee for raising her voice to her supervisor. The basis of the firing was the seaport’s intolerance for workplace violence. Days later, seaport acting general manager Dominic Muna issued final adverse action against Mr. Rosalin for the March 12 event. And while Mr. Rosalin was administratively charged with damaging public property, “disorderly conduct, fighting, threatening, or attempting to inflict bodily injury to another,” and other charges, Mr. Muna did not fire him. According to the April 11. 2025 final adverse action from Mr. Muna, Mr. Rosalin was demoted to a $52,090 position .
The documents in both employees’ cases are now public files at the CSC, as both Rosalin and the other employee have appealed their demotion and termination, respectively.
Workplace Violence Accusations and Dichotomy in Punishment
According to documents related to the firing of former seaport administrative assistant D.H., a woman, on January 29 this year she questioned her supervisor’s placement of a scanner in a certain area of the office. The questioning led to D.H. raising her voice.
“You became upset and you raised your voice and became clearly angry,” Mr. Respicio chronicled in his March 21, 2025 letter to D.H., which served as her final notice of adverse action that terminated her employment with the seaport.
“[Her supervisor] put her hand up in a stop gesture and calmly told you that you did not need to get upset,” Mr. Respicio continued in his chronicle of the January 29 event. “You continued to make comments as you walked away. [Her supervisor] walked towards the front of the office so she could further explain to you about the continued work. you continued to raise your voice and said to her ‘I don’t want to talk to you. Give me that! I’m asking for 15 minutes. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see your face!'”
Mr. Respicio further described how D.H.’s actions that day caused her supervisor and co-workers to fear for their personal safety.
“It is the Port’s position that violence or threats of violence–in all forms–is unacceptable behavior and such behavior will not be tolerated and be dealt with appropriately,” Mr. Respicio wrote to D.H. on March 21. For context, the date D.H. was fired – the same date as the issuance of the final notice of adverse action – was nine days after Mr. Respicio himself filed a criminal complaint with port police alleging Mr. Rosalin terrorized him, destroyed public property, and caused himself and others to be fearful of physical attack and further workplace violence.
Yet, in Mr. Muna’s April 11, 2025 letter to Mr. Rosalin serving as his final notice of adverse action that demoted him to the $52,090 per year position, not once was the seaport’s workplace violence policy mentioned, nor did Mr. Muna express – as Mr. Respicio did to D.H. – that workplace violence would not be tolerated by the seaport.
Mr. Muna’s chronicle of the March 12 incident against Mr. Respicio described the anger-filled altercation that preceded Mr. Rosalin choosing “to exit the meeting prematurely.”
“As you proceeded toward the reception area,” Mr. Muna wrote, “you willfully struck and damaged the General Manager’s office door, resulting in damage to Port property. Furthermore, you placed or attempted to place the General Manager in fear of imminent bodily injury by way of physical menace.”
Mr. Rosalin has been charged by the local grand jury and awaits criminal trial for his actions that day.
Mr. Muna handled the Rosalin case because Mr. Respicio – the victim in that case – recused himself from the process.
“I have determined that a demotion is warranted,” Mr. Muna wrote to Mr. Rosalin in the final notice of adverse action. “In addition, as a condition of continued employment, you are required to successfully complete an Anger Management course from a licensed provider at your own expense.”
Rosalin Claims Demotion Was Politically Motivated
In his appeal to the CSC, Mr. Rosalin claims his demotion was politically motivated, and made intriguing claims involving Mr. Respicio, the lieutenant governor’s sister Charissa Tenorio, and even Governor Lou Leon Guerrero.
“Sometime (sic) in 2024, General Manager Rory Respicio began accusing [Rosalin’s] girlfriend of attempting to have him politically removed from (sic) as General Manager at the Port of Guam,” Mr. Rosalin’s attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje, wrote in his appeal to the CSC.
In his recounting of the March 12 incident, Mr. Rosalin said Mr. Respicio called him into Respicio’s office to discuss political matters unrelated to his duties.
“It became obvious to me that GM Respicio had no intention of discussing work related issues but started talking badly about my girlfriend (and mother of my youngest son) and my brother,” the Rosalin account states. “I attempted to remain professional throughout his attempts to demand that I correct what he believed were false statements made by parties I do not control.”
He said he tried to remain professional, but that Mr. Respicio continued to “pester” him about Ms. Tenorio. “I could not continue to sit there while he told me that I should tell my girlfriend to essentially shut up, and that my girlfriend is responsible for rumors about his removal as Port GM,” he said.
“General Manager Rory Respicio claimed that [Rosalin’s] girlfriend was trying to get him removed from the Port of Guam, and that she was reporting on him to the Governor,” Ms. Terlaje’s complaint on behalf of Mr. Rosalin states.
The basis of Mr. Rosalin’s claims in his appeal – aside from technical errors he claims the seaport made in his demotion – is that Mr. Respicio and the Port Authority retaliated against Mr. Rosalin for actions stemming from alleged rumors that his girlfriend – Charissa Tenorio – was attempting to have Mr. Respicio fired. According to the Rosalin appeal, both Guam law and the seaport’s personnel rules and regulations prohibit such retaliation.
The April 7 Meeting Allegedly Involving Governor Lou Leon Guerrero
Paragraph 21 of Mr. Rosalin’s notice of appeal by Ms. Terlaje makes the following claim:
“Notwithstanding General Manager Rory Respicio’s claimed recusal and disqualification from overseeing the adverse action against [Rosalin], General Manager Rory Respicio, Acting General Manager Dominic Muna, [a private citizen], and others (sic) persons not within Management’s employment met on April 7, 2025, to discuss and determine the adverse action against [Rosalin].”
Kandit spoke with a source familiar with the meeting, who said “others (sic) persons” included Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, but that in no way did the parties discuss or determine the adverse action.
Kandit asked governor’s director of communications Krystal Paco-San Agustin whether Ms. Leon Guerrero was present at the April 7 meeting and, if she was, whether Mr. Rosalin’s employment was discussed and adverse action predetermined at this meeting.
Ms. Paco-San Agustin would neither confirm nor deny the governor’s presence at the meeting.
Asked whether the governor has participated in any way in directing a soft landing for Mr. Rosalin, or suggesting that he be demoted instead of fired, Ms. Paco-San Agustin said “We don’t comment on ongoing litigation.”
