‘Why should we resign?’

Marianas Public Lands Authority board chair Ana Demapan-Castro said the current board members will not step down from their posts, despite accusations that these officials are causing the problematic situation at the MPLA.

Demapan-Castro expressed this position after a public hearing Friday night on House Bill 15-57, which seeks to strip the MPLA of its autonomy and transform it into a department under the executive branch of government.

She explained that there are three instances when a board member may vacate his or her post—death, breach of fiduciary duty, or resignation.

“The board will step down if they have done something wrong,” Demapan-Castro said. “If you’re doing a good job, why will you leave the project?”

The MPLA chair said she was pleased with the turnout of the public hearing, where some community members expressed opposition to the bill, while others pinpointed matters that they feel the bill should have considered. Citing comments of some community members, Demapan-Castro said the bill “should be improved” to reflect the concerns of the public.

At the public hearing, a certain Mr. Tenorio told lawmakers that “the system itself is not broken. The people on the board [are not doing their] fiduciary duty.”

Tenorio expressed concern about transforming the agency into a department under the executive branch, which will give “one person [the governor] the full authority to manage public land.”

“Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he said. He urged lawmakers not to rush the bill and said that finger pointing will not solve the problem. He also said the bill should be abolished, adding that the creation of a new department will just entail hiring of new personnel and spending for the cash-strapped government.

“Get rid of people who are not doing their job. That’s all. Don’t give it [the agency] to the few,” Tenorio said.

Former Youth Congress senator Roselle Calvo, who is a niece of Demapan-Castro, voiced out her opposition to the bill. “I don’t think that the whole agency should be abolished.”

She likened the MPLA situation to a broken arm. “When something is wrong with one’s arm, one does not get rid of the entire body, but simply fix the defective arm.”

Calvo further said that the bill makes no assurance that abuse will not happen once the agency becomes a department under the executive branch.

“We are unsure that this [bill] will fix the problem,” Calvo said. She said another bill should be drafted, one that will guarantee that no abuse will happen, and said she will support such a measure.

A certain Mr. Manglona of Rota expressed concern about the bill’s proposition for a new department, which he said would be controlled by the governor.

“I, too, am not satisfied with the [MPLA] board,” Manglona said, but he added that the bill is not the right solution to the controversies plaguing the MPLA.

For government retiree Edward Diaz, the MPLA should not be abolished and that the bill should not become law. Diaz also made an analogy by saying that a house infested with termites need not be bulldozed, but could be addressed by the simple use of pesticide. He said the MPLA has served the public good by distributing homesteads.

“Probably, it’s the board members who are causing the problem…. [Do] not bulldoze the entire department [MPLA],” Diaz said. If they [MPLA officials] did something illegal…prosecute them and send them to jail.”

PERSONNEL ISSUES NEED CONSIDERATION

Former Office of Personnel Management director Juan I. Tenorio, who also commented on the bill during the hearing, expressed concern about the implications and consequences of the proposed legislation on personnel matters.

The former OPM director said that, if the MPLA becomes a department under the executive branch, the agency’s employees would become civil service employees.

He said the MPLA provides salaries that exceed the government’s salary cap and the Civil Service’s pay rate scale. He said possible lawsuits from employees whose salaries could be reduced should also be considered.

When Sen. Luis Crisostimo asked Tenorio whether he supports or opposes the bill, the former OPM director voiced out his opposition to the bill, speaking in the vernacular.

MPLA board member Nicolas Nekai also took the microphone and spoke mostly in the vernacular to express his opposition to the bill in his capacity as an indigenous person.

In an interview after the public hearing, Nekai chided the governor’s special legal counsel, Howard Willens, amid speculations that the attorney might have drafted the bill.

“This Legislature should consider things very seriously when they consider [the bill and] just take the word of Howard Willens,” Nekai said. “It’s a stab in the back and slap in the face for the indigenous people of the CNMI.”

For Roxanne Diaz, time is not enough for the people to review the bill—hence, she said the MPLA should not be abolished at this time. She said the bill does not adequately address the controversies at the MPLA. She also made an analogy by saying that a sick man should not be fired from his job but just given medicine, so that he could eventually work.

Northern Marianas College faculty member Sam McPhetres said the bill should also address and clarify as to which agency should have the authority to issue the Northern Marianas descent card, noting that only persons of NMI descent could vote on the fate of the CNMI Constitution’s Article XII, which restricts land ownership to that class of residents.

HB 15-57 has cited alleged grave cases of mismanagement and abuse of power by the MPLA’s top officials as part of the grounds for the measure’s legislative intent.

The bill proposes the abolition of the existing setup of the MPLA and the creation instead of a new department that will be headed by a secretary who will be subjected to the normal confirmation process for Cabinet members.

Gov. Benigno Fitial has openly criticized the MPLA and has declared his intention to abolish the agency “to stop the MPLA from abusing public funds.”

Lawmakers who attended the public hearing at the Multi-purpose Center in Susupe Friday night included House Reps. Edwin Aldan, Arnold Palacios, Frank Dela Cruz, Cinta Kaipat, and Manny Tenorio, and senators Pete Reyes, Frica Pangelinan, and Felix Mendiola

Despite the controversies plaguing the MPLA, the turnout during Friday night’s public hearing failed to fill the capacity of the Multi-Purpose Center. The hearing, which began at about 6pm, lasted less than two hours.

The Legislature has also set a public hearing on the bill beginning 6pm today at the Rota courthouse. On Wednesday, the Legislature will conduct a similar public hearing at the Tinian courthouse beginning 6pm.