$800K Saipan land payments soon

Saipan landowners who have been waiting for decades to be paid for their private property that the government took for public use such as roads would soon be paid a portion of the amount owed them using $800,000 in Managaha landing fees. Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) told Saipan Tribune yesterday that the payments, in his view, are supposed to be made within 60 days from July 19, or by middle of September.

“The amount is supposed to be distributed equally by percentage to all land compensation claims. It is now up to the Department of Public Lands to distribute those funds,” Tebuteb said in an interview.

The land compensation payment represents the biggest payments in recent years.

It is part of a local measure that automatically became law on July 19 without Gov. Eloy S. Inos’ signature.

The same local law gives $100,000 to the NMI Museum of History and Culture, and another $100,000 to the non-profit group NMD Corp., using funds also from the Managaha landing fee.

The $100,000 set aside for the NMD Corp. drew flak from some lawmakers and community members who said giving a non-profit group direct government appropriation—especially if the group has questionable goals—sets a bad precedent as other groups could also ask for similar treatment.

The NMD Corp. claims to represent people of Northern Marianas descent and opposes a court ruling allowing non-NMDs to vote on Article 12 initiatives. It also opposes the foreign worker program extension, the granting of improved status to long-term legal foreign workers in the CNMI, and the U.S. military’s use of Pagan, among other things.

Inos, however, allowed the bill to automatically become law without affixing his signature not because of the $100,000 appropriation to the NMD Corp. but because of pending judgments such as those involving land compensations.

Press secretary Angel Demapan said yesterday there is an issue “in regards to land compensation payments because there are many other landowners who have yet to be made whole.”

“In view of this, the administration is considering going the route of a certified question to get legal guidelines for pending judgments or obligations such as land compensation,” Demapan told Saipan Tribune.

Rep. Antonio Benavente’s (Ind-Saipan) House Local Bill 18-45, Draft 1 is now Saipan Local Law 18-19.

The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed the bill, co-authored by four other lawmakers, on final reading on June 24 and transmitted it to the governor on June 30.

Fair distribution

The $800,000 is just a drop in a bucket, considering that the CNMI government owes Saipan landowners over $80 million in unpaid land compensation plus interest.

“But we have to start somewhere,” Tebuteb added.

Saipan lawmakers want to ensure there is equal distribution of available funds for landowners.

This, after media reports showed that over 300 families have yet to receive a penny from the government in exchange for the taking of their land for public purposes, while some landowners got paid anywhere between $100,000 and $4.4 million each. Some got paid only a few years after the taking of their land.

Section 1(a) of the new local law states partly that funds appropriated under this section “shall be distributed equally by percentage to all land compensation claims within the Third Senatorial District within 60 days of the funds being received by the Department of Public Lands.”

Tebuteb said in his view, the 60-day period ends in mid-September.

“The funds are already with DPL as I understand it,” Tebuteb said. He said it is now up to DPL to calculate and distribute the payments to Saipan landowners.

Saipan landowners are owed between a few thousand dollars to over $11 million.

DPL Secretary Pete A. Tenorio said yesterday he has yet to review the new local law.

Tebuteb said if it is a standard pro-rated process to ensure fairness and equal distribution, the calculation could be the amount owed divided by the estimated total amount owed of over $80 million, multiplied by $800,000.

For example, a family owed $50,000 in land compensation could expect a payment of some $500, while a family owed about $1 million could expect a payment of some $10,000. But Tebuteb said this is just his calculation; another process could be applied.

The last time the CNMI government made major payments for land compensations was when a $40 million bond was floated. But $11 million of that money went to the construction of an adult prison in Susupe.

The CNMI government’s land compensation program began in 1978, many of them for right-of-way or road projects.

Expenditure authority

The new local law sets aside $100,000 for the NMI Museum of History and Culture’s log-awaited renovation and upkeep. The expenditure authority is the museum’s executive director.

The $100,000 appropriated for the NMD Corp. is for the group’s “operations and functions,” under the expenditure authority of the Finance secretary.