MPLA asks court to dismiss Malite case

The Marianas Public Lands Authority has asked the Superior Court to dismiss the lawsuit initiated by attorney general Pamela Brown to prevent the drawdown of some $3.45 million in land compensation claim by the Malite estate, saying that Brown is holding her office unlawfully and has no standing to bring the court action.

MPLA, its commissioner Edward DeLeon Guerrero, and its board of directors said the Commonwealth has been without a constitutionally appointed attorney general since Sept. 15, 2003. They also said that Gov. Juan N. Babauta, on whose office rests the executive power of the government, did not approve the filing of the lawsuit.

“MPLA will show that the governor approved and ordered the payment of $3.45 million to resolve this matter. The attorney general has opposed the will of the governor by filing this suit,” the MPLA defendants said jointly in a 19-page submission.

The contention that Brown has been holding the position of attorney general unlawfully reflects the same assertion by Malite estate attorney Pedro Atalig, who had filed on behalf of former Senate President Juan S. Demapan a separate lawsuit to unseat Brown as attorney general.

MPLA attorneys Matthew Gregory and Alan Lane—together with Mark S. Smith and Ramon K. Quichocho, lawyers for the MPLA board and the commissioner, respectively—said Brown’s nomination to become attorney general was never confirmed by the Senate within the statutory 90-day period.

“Consequently, by operation of law, Pam Brown is not—and can never be—authorized to assume any of the powers of the attorney general. Any complaint or information filed by anyone who is not the attorney general must be a nullity,” the lawyers said.

The governor appointed Brown to be the next attorney general on June 16, 2003, after the position became vacant on May 30 that year. The lawyers said Brown’s nomination lapsed by operation of law on Sept. 14, 2003, with the Senate failing to act on it at that time.

On Sept. 17, 2003, the Senate minority took over the leadership, with then minority leader Pete Reyes assuming the post of Senate president. The new leadership called for a session and with four senators present, three of them voted to reject Brown’s confirmation. One lawmaker abstained from voting.

The former Senate leadership, however, regained the helm of the upper house in a session on Rota on Nov. 17, 2003, with its five members present. In that session, the five senators unanimously voted in favor of Brown’s confirmation. Reyes’ bloc of four senators was absent in that session.

“Regardless of Pam Brown’s nomination, her appointment as attorney general expired by operation of law, and she could not be reappointed to office,” the lawyers added. “Because Gov. Babauta never appointed another person to be the attorney general, after the appointment of Pam Brown expired, the Commonwealth has been without a constitutionally appointed attorney general since Sept. 15, 2003.”

The lawyers cited a statutory provision as basis for this contention, which provides that the appointment shall terminate “if the appointment is not confirmed by the Senate…within 90 days from the date the person was temporarily appointed.”

Brown, however, had said she never held the attorney general position in acting capacity in 2003, arguing that the 90-day statutory deadline for confirmation does not apply to her case.

The MPLA defendants also asserted that the land compensation claim by the Malite estate is covered by Public Law 13-17, also known as the Land Compensation Act of 2002, noting the Legislature’s findings that the CNMI government owes its citizens approximately $40 million for land acquired by eminent domain.

“As far as MPLA knows, only one eminent domain case has been adjudicated in the Commonwealth or the Trust Territory courts, to wit, the property subject to this lawsuit that was owned by the Malite heirs,” their lawyers said.

“Since only one eminent domain case has been adjudicated in the history of the Commonwealth and the Trust Territory, it follows that the Legislature must have intended that the heirs of Malite be included within the compensation program under PL 13-17, as amended,” they added.

Brown filed the lawsuit after the MPLA, reportedly with the consent of the Commonwealth Development Authority, announced that they would go ahead with the release of the land compensation to the Malite estate on Dec. 6 despite her objections.

She questioned the amount of land compensation and its release, contending that the claim was spurious. The MPLA board approved the land compensation claim, a matter that was already decided by the Trust Territory court in 1978.

That court determined the compensation for condemnation of a parcel of land, which now forms part of Saipan’s Marianas High School, in the amount of $3,682. The Commonwealth government obtained title to the land as a result of the condemnation. The Malite heirs, however, claimed that they did not receive any payment from the government regarding the land taking.

Sometime last week, Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig revoked his authorization on the drawdown of funds from the government’s land compensation account.