Results Driven

Sablan was told the OPA was unable to attract residents with a college education, that locals with a college education were demanding too much money, and that residents were unable to be objective because of family ties and politics. Sablan began an aggressive outreach program working through the local scholarship office and visiting colleges on Saipan, Guam and Hawaii. His first four auditor openings resulted in 78 applicants, and over the past three years, more than 160 people have applied for 15 positions.

The excuse that locals were demanding too much money was unfair, he says. "The compensation packages offered by this office previously were-in my opinion-by design intended to hire non-resident workers," Sablan points out. So he surveyed government agencies, taking the median salary of someone with comparable education, experience and responsibilities, and restructured OPA's pay scale.

The third excuse-which bothered Sablan the most-that locals can't be objective, fair and impartial when conducting audits "is an insult" to the professionalism of qualified residents. "Professionalism crosses over ethnic background," Sablan explains, saying some people chose not to be investigators because they are not comfortable, but others have no problems living up to the expectation of their profession. When he assumed his position, 27 of 29 employees were non-resident workers. Today, there is only one non-resident worker in a staff of 30.

Since hiring qualified residents, OPA has invested heavily in their training. Sablan has forged partnerships with the General Accounting Office of the U.S. Congress; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School; Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia and the South Pacific Association of Auditors, among others. "Today I'm proud to say that OPA CNMI has one of the best-if not the best-training programs in the Pacific," Sablan says.

If there is one person who knows about government deficit in the Northern Marianas, it is the public auditor. Sablan said the cumulative deficit as of fiscal year 2000 was $104 million, which has since grown to over $110 million. That's not the only fiscal problem. There is also a $489 million in unfunded liability to the Retirement Fund and another $99 million in hospital receivables. "This is a major financial problem," Sablan emphasizes. "And to a large extent I can appreciate the difficulty in addressing the deficit in a situation where you have declining revenues due to factors that are external and beyond our control."

In addition to auditing and investigating all three branches of the government including autonomous agencies, the OPA has many other responsibilities including the ethics law-the strictest in the U.S. and its jurisdiction-but also one of the easiest to understand. To educate government employees on ethics law, Sablan and his staff have conducted 125 presentations throughout the Northern Marianas. "Because of the culture and traditions and how much stronger it is here than it is in Hawaii," he explains, "I want our employees to know that there are some cultural and traditional practices that may violate the ethics act."

Moreover, OPA is in charge of the political campaign finance section under the election reform act, and decides on appeals on procurement disputes involving specific government contracts and purchases.

Sablan says his office has developed tracking systems for audits, investigations or advisory opinions. In July 2001, 38 requests were received. At the end of August 2004, there are more than 700 requests. Many of the calls are anonymous and their identities are not important to OPA staff-just the facts.

Asked to compare corruption in the CNMI and the Pacific region, Sablan says, "corruption is everywhere. I wouldn't say that it's more rampant here than in other jurisdictions. My focus is here. But from what I hear from my colleagues elsewhere, they have their share of the problems."

Sablan believes that any organization-government or business, public or private-could function more efficiently and effectively if they had long-term strategic planning. "With the exception of a few government offices, the rest have no strategic plan, no mission statement, no vision," the public auditor says.

Photo: Frank Rosario Mike Sablan comes from a family of high achievers. He was born 46 years ago in As Perdido on Saipan to Juan A. Sablan, a Chamorro from Saipan and a Palaun mother. Juan Sablan was the District Administrator of Truk District (now Chuuk State) during the Trust Territory Administration of Micronesia in the 1960s and 70s. He was also one of the highest Micronesians in the Trust Territory Government as Deputy High Commissioner. Mike's sister, Virginia S. Onerheim, was a Superior Court Judge in the mid 1990s. Mike Sablan went to Xavier High School in Chuuk then the Mid Pacific Institute in Hawaii. After receiving his degree in economics in 1981 from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) he became a Certified Public Accountant and returned home to assume managerial positions in the private sector. Between 1988 and 2000 he was the Special Adviser for Finance and Budget for the CNMI Governor and was appointed Public Auditor by Governor Pedro P. Tenorio in 2000.