Co-op to sign agreement with DLNR soon

The CNMI Farmers Cooperative will be signing an agreement with the Department of Lands and Natural Resources soon regarding their use and management of the government-owned Garapan Public Market building.

“The plan is to sign the agreement this week,” said co-op’s pro tem president Crispin Deleon Guerrero in an interview.

Guerrero currently heads the co-op following the resignation of Maria Frica Pangelinan as its president and manager.

In a meeting last Thursday, agreement and membership issues were discussed by co-op shareholders together with representatives from the government, including acting governor Ralph DLG Torres and DLNR Secretary Richard Seman.

Almost two weeks ago, Seman issued a letter to Pangelinan notifying the co-op, which started their operations August 2014, that they should “cease and desist” using the public market building as the two parties don’t have an agreement in place.

The letter said the co-op couldn’t resume operations until “such an agreement is in place.”

Currently the co-op is not operating since they don’t have produce to fill the market’s shelves following the devastation of Typhoon Soudelor in August and Typhoon Champi in October.

“According to the Attorney General’s Office, we really need to place a signed agreement between both parties. I’m hoping that providing a draft copy, you’ll be able to review it and work out the area,” Seman told the farmers in the meeting.

“The current board members will just have to face it and make that decision. They have to meet on their own and decide,” said Pangelinan, who still attended the meeting and will still be assisting the co-op as a type of adviser.

Pangelinan said earlier that the co-op wasn’t able to sign the agreement because of a required a $1 million liability insurance, which she said was “too stringent for the market.”

Guerrero said they will look into a law that says that the maximum insurance liability required is only $50,000. He also assured farmers that the board will review the agreement before they sign it.

Because only about 12 out of the 74 co-op shareholders attended the meeting, the co-op wasn’t able to elect new board members.

Co-op secretary Sid Cabrera said they are looking at January to hold another general membership meeting to elect board members as not all of its current seven members is active. He added that it would be impossible for the farmers to meet now as it is already nearing the holiday season.