Santos to DPL: Review if homesteaders are covered by waivers

Before it revokes any homesteads, the Department of Public Lands should first thoroughly review if the affected homesteader is covered by certain laws that waive some homestead requirements, said Sen. Teresita A. Santos (Ind-Rota), who cited the back-to-back typhoon disasters suffered by the CNMI, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to DPL Secretary Marianne Concepcion-Teregeyo, Santos said this review could potentially include conducting additional lot inspections and retrieving homesteaders’ records of expenditures related to their homestead, as enacted in Public Law 17-37 prior to its amendment by Public Law 20-05.

“If found in compliance with all relevant laws, we hope that our homesteaders receive their [quitclaim] deeds from DPL at the earliest possible chance,” she said.

The senator made the request after her office recently received a number of calls from some residents pertaining to the implementation of Public Laws 17-04 and 17-37, as amended by P.L. 20-05, amending the waiver of homestead requirements.

Santos said the law states that DPL “shall waive by requirement or policy requiring village homesteader(s) to rebuild a second residential dwelling house upon showing by any homesteader(s) that his/her completed residential dwelling structure was destroyed or severely damaged by typhoon, tsunami or other natural or man-made disasters.”

She said the law also states that DPL “shall waive the requirement or policy of completing a single family residential dwelling structure upon showing reasonable justification that the homesteader continues to maintain the assigned lot in conformance with the DPL requirements, or upon the homesteaders providing to the department that the building permit required under 2CMC Section 7131 is denied because the homestead area lacks water, power, or sewage system infrastructure.”

Santos told Saipan Tribune yesterday that homestead permittees are raising concerns why their quitclaim deeds have yet to be released, even after they have already met the homestead requirements pursuant to certain public laws, particularly on Rota.

She noted that the CNMI has suffered unprecedented back-to-back natural disasters, followed by a pandemic that has affected everyone globally. Santos said the CNMI’s economy is still struggling to recover from previous disasters as it continues to rapidly decline from the pandemic.

“Our landscape has dramatically changed and our new way of life will be an adjustment for all,” she said.

The senator said the Legislature introduced legislation to amend the “Deeds of Conveyance” and “The Waiver of Homestead Requirements” because they empathized and understood the hardship that people were dealing with.

“Today, more than ever, we need to ensure that these laws are adhered to and uniformly applied to all homesteaders in the CNMI,” Santos said.