Teresita Apatang Santos (born October 25, 1959)[1][2] is a politician from the Northern Mariana Islands and current Secretary of the Department of Public Lands.[3] She previously served as a member of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives and as a member of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate.[4]

Teresita Santos
Member of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate
from the Rota 1st district
In office
2015–2022
Member of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives
from the 7th district
In office
2010–2014
Personal details
Political party

Santos, a resident of the island of Rota,[5] is a member of the Republican Party, and represented the 1st Senatorial District. She was the Legislative Secretary of the Senate. She chaired the committee on Health and Welfare; she is the vice-chair of the committees on Education and Youth Affairs, Fiscal Affairs, and Judiciary, Government, and Law, and was a member of the committees on Rules and Procedure and Executive Appointments and Government Investigations.[6] She has spoken of the need to invest more money in the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation to improve its hospital services.[7] As of 2017 she was the only woman sitting in the Senate.[8] Santos served in the House of Representatives alongside Felicidad Ogumoro and Janet Maratita; when the latter was sworn in for a new term in 2011 the three became the first three women to serve together in the House in the history of the Northern Mariana Islands. At the time she was an independent.[9] Her cousin is the former director of the Department of Public Safety on Rota, Felix M. Santos, who challenged her for her seat in the House in 2012.[5] In the 2022 general election, Santos ran to be Mayor of Rota.[10] Aubrey Manglona Hocog won the election while Santos finished third of five candidates.[11]

Electoral history

edit

2009

edit
House of Representative - District 7: Rota (1 seats)[12]
Party Candidate Votes %
Independent Teresita Apatang Santos 695 53.50%
Independent Ross Hugh Songao Manglona 604 46.50%
Total votes 1,299 100.00%

2012

edit
House of Representative - District 7: Rota (1 seat)[13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Teresita Apatang Santos (incumbent)[a] 882 58.96%
Independent Felix Mundo Santos 614 41.04%
Total votes 1,496 100.00%
Republican hold

2014

edit
Rota 1st Senatorial District (2 seats)[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Teresita Apatang Santos 786 28.17%
Republican Steven King Mesngon 687 24.62%
Independent Paul Atalig Manglona 633 22.69%
Independent Jovita Maratita Taimanao (incumbent) 492 17.63%
Independent Tom Glenn A. Quitugua 192 6.88%
Total votes 2,790 100.00%

2018

edit
Rota 1st Senatorial District (2 seats)[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Independent Teresita Apatang Santos (incumbent) 628 21.55%
Republican Victor Borja Hocog 570 19.56%
Republican Felix Mundo Santos 540 18.53%
Independent Albert Atalig Taitano 442 15.17%
Independent Joel Gogue Charfauros 396 13.59%
Independent Jovita Maratita Taimanao 338 11.60%
Total votes 2,914 100.00%

2024

edit
Mayor - Rota[16]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Aubry Manglona Hocog 505 34.95%
Independent Harry James Atalig Masga 470 32.53%
Independent Teresita Apatang Santos 288 19.93%
Independent Magdalena San Nicolas Mesngon 159 11.00%
Independent Alfredo Taisacan Taimanao 23 1.59%
Total votes 1,445 100.00%
Republican hold

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Teresita Santos switched her affiliation from Independent to Republican before the elections

References

edit
  1. ^ "Inauguration of the Seventeenth Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature" (PDF). Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. January 11, 2010. p. 30. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  2. ^ Santos, Teresita (March 4, 2022). "Marianas Trench NMS nomination" (PDF). Letter to Kristina Kekuewa. NOAA. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
  3. ^ Dela Torre, Ferdie (February 14, 2024). "Santos seeks Senate support to enable DPL to tap $1M settlement". Saipan Tribune. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
  4. ^ Erediano, Emmanuel (February 23, 2024). "Former Sen. Santos appointed as DPL chief". Marianas Variety. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Erediano, Emmanuel T. "Santos vs. Santos on Rota". Marianas Variety. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Teresita Santos". Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  7. ^ Marianas Variety. "Senator Santos: Let's invest in CHCC". Marianas Variety. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  8. ^ Representation2020.com. "CNMI and Guam - Report: Women still underrepresented in govt - Representation20/20". www.representation2020.com. Retrieved 30 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Janet Maratita is sworn into office - Saipan News, Headlines, Events, Ads - Saipan Tribune". www.saipantribune.com. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  10. ^ De La Torre, Ferdie (June 13, 2022). "Santos to run as Rota mayor". Saipan Tribune. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  11. ^ "Official General Election Results Certified on November 11, 2022". Northern Mariana Islands Election Commission. November 11, 2022. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  12. ^ "2009 CNMI General Election Results". Commonwealth Election Commission. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  13. ^ "Commonwealth Election Commission - 2012 Election Results". Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023
  14. ^ "Commonwealth Election Commission - Election 2014 Results". Archived from the original on November 30, 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^ "2018 CNMI General Election Results". Commonwealth Election Commission. Archived from the original on 2019-06-16. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  16. ^ "2022 Official General Election and Run-Off Results". Commonwealth Election Commission. 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2024-05-09.