‘Malite’s treated like animals by TT govt’

Lawyers of the Malite estate vehemently opposed the complaint filed by the Attorney General’s Office, saying that the Malite heirs deserve just compensation after their land was obtained by the then Trust Territory government in 1968.

By filing the complaint to freeze the payment of some $3.45 million, lawyer Pedro Atalig said the CNMI government effectively continues to maltreat the Malite heirs. Atalig also threatened to file a separate lawsuit against Pamela Brown to unseat her from her the AG post.

“The Malites were finagaga. They were treated like animals by the TT government. The CNMI government [AGO] continues to treat them like animals,” Atalig said.

Atalig echoed the statement by Superior Court judge Juan T. Lizama, who presided over a hearing on the AGO’s request for temporary restraining order to stop the drawdown of funds for payment to the Malite estate.

“Finagaga. The government treated everybody like dirt,” Lizama said during the hearing, eliciting claps from the jampacked gallery of the courtroom. The judge quickly reminded the audience, though, not to clap. Assistant attorney general Benjamin Sachs responded that the situation is not the fault of the CNMI government, adding that counsel represented the Malite estate during the Trust Territory court proceedings.

After a hearing that lasted more than two hours, Lizama said he would study the issues presented before him. As of press time, the court has issued no TRO.

Atalig argued against Sachs’ request for a TRO, speaking almost entirely in Chamorro. In an interview after the hearing, he explained that Brown has no authority to bring the complaint before the court, questioning the validity of her confirmation as attorney general.

He said Brown caused the filing of the suit despite the instruction of Gov. Juan N. Babauta to release the land compensation being claimed by the Malite estate. He said he would soon file a separate lawsuit against Brown, questioning her legitimacy as AG.

“Instead of respecting the decision of the governor, the Attorney General instituted a lawsuit in direct contravention of its client’s wishes, the governor. When the governor ignores the AG’s advice, the AG runs amok,” Atalig said.

“The AG in the NMI is not an elected AG like Guam. However, the NMI AG treats herself as one ignoring the wishes of her client, Gov. Juan N. Babauta,” he continued.

Atalig said the court should not grant the request for a TRO because the AGO has not exhausted administrative remedies. Following the Marianas Public Lands Authority board’s decision favoring land compensation for the Malite heirs on Aug. 13, 2004, the AGO never appealed the decision before the MPLA board.

He said the AGO failed to appeal the decision within the time frame allowed by law. “Thus, plaintiff [CNMI government] has waived his administrative hearing and thus is precluded from appealing the board’s decision…for administrative hearing for any board action for which a party affected by its decision is aggrieved,” Atalig said.

Atalig justified that the estate is only claiming money damages, which would not result in irreparable injury to the CNMI government, citing precedent court rulings. He belittled the AGO’s probability to succeed on the merits in the lawsuit it filed against the MPLA, its board members, the Commonwealth Development Authority, and the Malite estate’s administrator.

Atalig, a former CNMI Supreme Court justice and former MPLA board member, said public outcry would result if the court favors the AGO’s complaint.

He also said the passage of pieces of legislation had the intent to compensate persons affected by the Trust Territory government’s taking of private property based on eminent domain, referring to Public Laws 13-17, 13-25, and 13-37.

“The statutes were created to bring to a close these outstanding land disputes between the government and private persons victimized by government taking of their private lands without just compensation,” Atalig said.

“These pieces of legislation were forwarded to the AG’s office for their review and comments before being signed into law by the governor. For the AG to now complain these statutes are improper or wrong, [and] disturbing and puzzling,” he added.

Meanwhile, Atalig said that his sister, MPLA board member Benita Atalig-Manglona, abstained from voting on the land compensation request by the Malite estate, which was represented by the lawyer’s co-counsel and brother, Antonio Atalig.