Not the enemy but the cure

As the Secretary of Department of Public lands you are held to a high standard of fiduciary standard in the management and dispositions of our public lands.

Serious concerns have arisen pertaining to alleged internal issuances of homesteads, short conveyances, questionable public land leases, and land compensations or cash settlements. I do not believe anything of this nature is a laughing matter. Numerous employees had been forced to resign or terminated due to issues we have uncovered pertaining to such transactions. The problem with this internal employee issue is that the homestead documents they possess have your signature, which tells us that you authorized such activities. You continue to address that our findings are baseless and without merits but the documents we have on hand tell differently.

Homestead applicants on the waiting list since the 1990s have not gotten their homesteads but employees, constituents, relatives, friends, and so forth had been given special privileges, prioritization and issuances of homestead properties with applications as early as 2000 to the present, completely bypassing those applicants who have waited patiently for many years and are still waiting.

Converted ponding basin into homesteads at San Vicente Stanford Area: Two houses had been erected on these homesteads, issued to close constituents of the administration involving employees who you either terminated or forced to resign. Status? Homes were completed.

Short Conveyances: Issuances of short conveyance claims had been entertained and authorized by you simply for the relationships involved. This matter is also a direct conflict of interest.

Land Settlements: Earlier, this administration placed a moratorium on all activities concerning homesteads and land settlements. However, the land settlement payments you had authorized and paid out were for immediate relatives, Cabinet members and a former congressman from the 15th Legislature. This is a matter of public records and are accessible to anyone.

MPLA investigations: A letter received from the former lead investigator notified us that no case or settlement had been settled or compromised at the federal courts but we uncovered that you had settled a case with a former MPLA employee listed on the OPA report you personally hand delivered to Taotao Tano.

Bottom line is DPL lost this case in federal court but the former MPLA employee was placed under a gag order. Again, the documents retrieved were public records accessible to anyone.

Senate oversight hearing: Three times the hearing was postponed and the excuse was that they are still gathering the documents requested by chairman of the committee, Sen. Jude Hofschnieder. Today, the oversight hearing had been cancelled until further notice. Taotao Tano states that it is all a cover-up.

Now do you wish to continue calling our investigation baseless or a laughing matter? Is this how a person who proudly states that he was once a Student President and now a Secretary of DPL, trained or educated as a Christian, to be doing? I am not the enemy but rather the cure, Mr. DelRosario.