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DPL opposes transfer of ownership of Rota East Harbor to municipality
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Posted on Oct 04 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
Public Lands Secretary Oscar M. Babauta is opposed to a bill transferring the ownership of the Rota East Harbor from the Department of Public Lands to the Municipality of Rota, saying such action would run afoul with a 2010 Supreme Court ruling.
Babauta, in a letter to House Natural Resources Committee chair Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan), said Senate Bill 17-66, Senate Substitute 1 seeks to “take land away from people of Northern Marianas descent and give it to Rota without compensation.”
“This, I believe, would run afoul of the recent Supreme Court case DPL v. CNMI, 2010 MP 14,” Babauta told Palacios in a letter, a copy of which was obtained yesterday.
In this particular case, the Supreme Court held that the Legislature could not require DPL to pay land claims with proceeds that should be remitted to the Marianas Public Land Trust.
“Any bill that removes a revenue or potential revenue generating property away from DPL without compensation, therefore, would deprive MPLT of revenue in contravention of the Supreme Court’s ruling. The bill seeks to do exactly that, and because of this, I cannot support it,” Babauta said.
The DPL secretary said while he cannot support the bill in its current form, he is eager to work with the House Committee on Natural Resources to maximize the value of public lands.
Palacios’s committee is reviewing Sen. Juan Ayuyu’s (Ind-Rota) SB 17-66, SS1.
The bill seeks to require the Commonwealth Ports Authority to authorize the use of the Rota East Harbor solely for the exportation of locally made products.
The bill’s introduction early this year came at a time when Rota Mayor Melchor Mendiola’s administration is pushing for the development of Rota’s east harbor as a means to jumpstart the economy.
CPA objected to, and is now out of, the project. It said a $25 million funding for the project could be better used in completing the repairs at the existing west harbor instead of building another one in the east side.
