JACKIE! NO SURPRISE - PART 4

By Tim Rohr

Continued from Part 3

I mentioned in Part 3 that even though Bob Klitzkie did not have legal standing to pursue the certificate of title matter in court, he still had one tool he could use, a tool available to all of us: The Sunshine Law, aka Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA").  

In February 2016, after DLM Director Michael Borja went silent and Klitzkie learned that Jackie Terlaje, Esq., was suddenly involved as "counsel for the title holder," Bob, knowing his only legal recourse was a FOIA, FOIA'd Borja on February 17, 2016, and set a date to inspect the following documents on February 22. 

• The name, worksite, mailing address, and dates of service of all Deputy Registrars of Titles who served during 2015 and to date.
• The name, worksite, and mailing address of all Deputy Registrars of Titles who were relieved of duty from October 30 to date.
• Directives describing and governing the performance of the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Registrar of Titles during the period beginning January 1, 2015, to present.
• All correspondence, including email, between the Deputy Registrar of Titles and Msgr. David C. Quitugua or his agent.
• All correspondence directed to the Deputy Registrar of Titles, to include email, from any attorney regarding the certificates described herein.
• All sign-in logs show the signature of Msgr. David C. Quitugua or his agent.
• All sign-in logs showing the signature of anyone visiting the Deputy Registrar of Titles regarding the reference certificates of title.
• All requests for certificates of title related to the reference d certificates of title.
• All receipts evidencing payment for the originals or copies of the referenced certificates of title.
• All documents referred to, referenced, or relied upon by the Deputy Registrar of Titles in the preparation of the referenced certificates.

It was clear what Bob was looking for. 

Regarding the first three documents, he was looking to see if Borja had taken disciplinary action against Andrew Santos, the Deputy Registrar of Titles, who had manufactured the false titles for Jackie, and then remanufactured even "falser" titles for Jackie after the first false titles were exposed. 

Whether Santos did this through "nonfeasance, misfeasance, or malfeasance" as Bob characterized it in his letter to Borja of March 1, 2016, was never proven, nor did Bob try to prove it. What was proven was Jackie's role in procuring both sets of titles and then presenting herself as "counsel for the title holder" to keep the matter out of court (as demonstrated in the previous parts of this story). 

Then, once Bob mentions "Msgr. David C. Quitugua or his agent in his list, "Bob is looking for Jackie. 

Bob knew that even if he found evidence of Jackie's fingerprints all over this title scam, there was little he could do about it, given that he was not a party to the matter and really little more than a concerned citizen. Still, because the preservation and protection of land titles and transfers is the people's business - which is why, in his March 1, 2016, letter to Borja, Bob characterized DLM's errors as "a wound inflicted on the public" -  Bob had the moral and legal authority to demand information from DLM's Director. 

Bob inspected the FOIA'd documents on February 23, 2016. However, pursuant to Bob's email to Borja dated the next day, Bob was not permitted to inspect the first three documents on the list, documents related to the status of the Deputy Registrar. Bob was told he could not have access to that information because the requested documents were a "personnel matter."

Bob might have let it go. However, after Borja and Barrett-Anderson got on the same page with Jackie, and pursuant to Borja's March 31, 2016, press release, which issued corrected CTs behind closed doors and bypassed the courts, Bob decided to sue the only person he had standing to sue: Borja.

Borja had denied Klitzkie access to public records related to Andrew Santos, the Deputy Registrar, on the grounds that said records were a "personnel matter." Borja, an otherwise good guy, and who was of great help to our side at the beginning of this drama, would be very sorry that he ever let "counsel for the title holder" into his office.

One year later, on February 27, 2017, in DECISION AND ORDER…Superior Court judge, the Honorable Maria T. Cenzon, would decide:

(Notes: Petitioner: Klitzkie. Respondent: Borja. Act: Freedom of Information Act.)

The court rejects the assertion that Petitioner’s requested information takes his Petition outside the Act. The Deputy Registrar is a public employee, and the Act speaks for itself when stating “all information regarding salary, and the name and worksite mailing address of each employee and public official shall be public record.” The duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Registrar or any other employee of the Department of Land Management are properly considered a public record of “information relating to the conduct of the public’s business....” 

Further, the court memorialized Borja’s treatment of Klitzkie:

…the court finds it self-evident that Petitioner’s receipt of the requested information three (3) months after filing his Petition and after over five (5) months of near-total silence from Respondent and the Department of Land Management a sufficient concession to the merit of Petitioner’s claims. The plain language of the Act leaves the court no discretion but to award the Petitioner the requested court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, and the court will issue a Judgment for the Petitioner in an amount supported by a submitted Bill of Costs following the issuance and entry on the docket of this Decision and Order.

And then, Judge Cenzon took a shot at the AG (Respondent’s counsel):

Finally, the characterization by Respondent’s counsel to the statutory penalty of $1,000 - imposed with particularity under the law upon the person who committed the violation, as opposed to the responding agency - as a “minor wound just to make this experience painful enough to teach Respondent a lesson” is astounding.

Judge Cenzon spends about another page lecturing and chastising the AG, which, I think, was not actually addressed to the Deputy AG representing Borja, but the AG herself, Barrett-Anderson, for her demonstrable equivocation in the whole matter as set out several times in this account. But that's just my thought about it.

Cenzon concludes:

…the court finds that Respondent Director Borja’s failure to respond to the Petitioner’s request for information was unjustified and imposes the statutorily mandated fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), payable by him, personally. 

The fine, per the Sunshine Law, was payable to the Guam Ethics Commission, not to Bob. The court also ordered the Department of Land Management to pay Bob's attorney's fees in the amount of $10,000. 

Bob got nothing.  And Jackie? Well, she's still around.

THE END (for now)

PS. Rest in Peace, Bob. I'll take it from here.