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‘Abolition law a disservice to indigenous’
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Posted on Feb 22 2006
The Executive Branch and the Legislature have done a disservice to the indigenous people by approving a law abolishing the autonomous Marianas Public Lands Authority, said a member of the MPLA board of directors yesterday.
“The governor and the Legislature should uphold their fiduciary responsibility with regards to the indigenous people. …They should do something good rather than abolish MPLA and run it on their own,” said board member Nick Nekai.
He warned that the government would face “a lot of lawsuits coming in from the indigenous people” following the passage of the bill.
The board official believes that the law violates the CNMI Constitution.
“You violate it by having one person making the entire decision for the indigenous lands,” said Nekai.
Board chair Ana Demapan-Castro, who is back from her off-island trip a week earlier than expected, could not be reached as of press time for comments.
The board has been vocal against the abolition proposal, saying the current setup better serves the indigenous people.
Demapan-Castro had, likewise, refused to resign from her post amid various allegations of impropriety, believing that that they are doing the public good.
“The board will step down if they have done something wrong. If you’re doing a good job, why will you leave the project?” she had asked.
Demapan-Castro issued a statement to the media earlier yesterday, denying the board’s alleged plan to “buy out” certain employees’ contracts, including that of MPLA commissioner Ed Deleon Guerrero.
“The rumors of the MPLA ‘passing’ a budget during today’s board meeting for the purposes of ‘buying out’ employee contracts are entirely false,” said MPLA media officer Ed Arriola Jr., quoting Demapan-Castro.
Nekai also denied that the board tackled the issue.
“Nothing like that is happening in MPLA,” he said.
The board convened its 2pm board meeting yesterday amid a threat of the issuance of a temporary restraining order against it. See related story on Page 5.
Arriola said the meeting was a continuation of yesterday morning’s meeting, which was also an extension of Tuesday’s special meeting.
