Pacific Island Times July 2018 Vol 3 No. 6 | Page 4

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK Whistleblowers “We are only faced with the absurd when we take both our need for answers and the world’s silence together. —Albert Camus F This is why many choose to seal their lips and look the other way. As long as no none blows the whistle, the cul- prits get away with their criminal mischiefs. “Account- ability and transparency have been an expectation rather than a rule in government,” Doris Flores-Brooks said when she announced her resignation as public auditor to run for Congress. The suppression ought to stop, according to Sen. Frank Aguon, who introduced Bill 301-34 to address “the tidal wave of corruption allegations and questionable decisions that have been made by leadership within the 4 Associate Editor Bruce Lloyd [email protected] Associate Editor (Pacific Note/Palau) [email protected] Palau Bureau Chief Bernadette Carreon [email protected] Contributing Writers Vince Akimoto Raquel Bagnol Richard Brooks Zaldy Dandan Jayne Flores Joyce McClure Denise Mesa Mendiola Diana Mendoza Johanna Salinas Gaafar Uherbelau Aline Yamashita Hospital officials deny the allegations, but one can’t tune out the two GMH administrators’ familiar narra- tives, which are consistent with the classic ostracism of those who dare to speak out. This pattern goes all the way back to the controversial days of the very vocal Dr. George Macris, whose medical license and privileges were suspended by the hospital board in 2010. Such state of affairs is not exclusive to GMH. There were cabinet officials in the past who had stepped down from their posts for reasons one could only speculate. One government attorney was fired from her job after being suspected of leaking information about a questionable tax settlement. The tax deal was sealed — unchecked. The lawyer is jobless. It is disturbing when the act of leaking gets more attention and treated as an offense more than the actual offense. Mar-Vic Cagurangan [email protected] Ongerung Kambes Kesolei irst, Ted Lewis. The former Guam Memorial Hospital administrator was forced to resign in January 2016, amid credit card abuse investigation and sexual harassment complaint, which he believes had been fabricated by a core group of administrators who wanted him out of GMH. This was the consequence of him not shutting up. Then recently there was Dr. Kozue Shimabokuro, assistant administrator of medical ser- vices, who has been stripped off her administrative tasks and pushed to clinician work after repeatedly raising questions about the fiscal mismanagement at GMH. “The graveyard is full of fired GMH physi- cians that have been terminated