Certified question on land payments inches forward

The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation will soon name a lawmaker to sign off on a “certified question” on a local law that mandates payments to families in the CNMI whose properties were taken by the government for public use.

Saipan Local Law 18-19 mandates the distribution of $800,000 to more than 200 Saipan families. The payments will be made by the Department of Public Lands and will come from “landing fees” that are generated from tourists visiting Managaha Island, a prime tourist spot in the CNMI.

But the payments have been delayed because questions about the local law itself have arisen, including questions whether these landing fees are considered “land leases” or “fees” and whether they could be used to pay for land compensations.

Delegation chair Rep. Joh Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) said he would soon discuss with members to name a lawmaker who will sign off on the certified question that will be then sent to the NMI Supreme Court.

Sablan said this is a “significant development” with the SNILD sanctioning the certified question.

According to Sablan, he earlier sent a letter to Public Lands and the Office of the Attorney General on the matter. One letter asked DPL to “follow the rule” and the other was to ask the attorney general to “enforce the law,” Sablan said.

“Both responded. DPL thinks it [payments] is unconstitutional, and the AG said perhaps it will be for the best interest of everyone to take the matter to the Supreme Court,” Sablan said.

He said the process on the certified question “is not an easy task and might take years.”

“But we need to start somewhere,” Sablan said.

Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) earlier said SLL 18-19 “remains a valid CNMI law,” because there is no court decision saying otherwise.

The $800,000 land compensation payments will come from $1 million in landing fees that the government, through the DPL, currently holds.

Since September 2014, the administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos has long been considering going the route of a certified question to get legal guidelines for pending judgments or obligations such as land compensations.

But that certified question has yet to be submitted. Public Lands earlier said that if the courts opine that SLL 18-19 is constitutional, it will proceed to make payments to land claimants.

‘Unconstitutional’

Gilbert Birnbrich, the former attorney general, said last year the public law runs counter to the CNMI Constitution.

“It is the OAG’s belief that SLL 18-19 is unconstitutional because it infringes upon the constitutionally required function of [Marianas Public Land Trust] to receive the revenues generated from the management and disposition of public lands for the benefit of persons of Northern Marianas descent,” he said.

He said a certified question before the Supreme Court will put finality not only to the much-debated land compensation law but also any law and future laws that appropriates money from the Managaha landing and users fees.

Birnbirch said only after a member of the Legislature agrees to work with the Executive Branch on the certified question will the OAG, in concert with the Inos administration and DPL secretary, collaborate “with the named representative(s) and their designated counsel to come up with the appropriate wording” for the certified question.

House Speaker Joseph Deleon (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Tony Benavente, and former representative Chris Leon Guerrero were three members of the previous House of Representatives who volunteered to sign off on the certified question. Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan) also offered to file the certified question but the 18th Legislature adjourned before the question was filed.

It is now up to the 19th Legislature to work on the certified question.