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Manglona says Rota Resort essentially abandoned
Paul A. Manglona
Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the Rota Resort and Country Club appears in recent past to have been essentially abandoned, with its furniture being offered for sale at bargain-basement prices and its golf course left unmaintained.
Manglona on Tuesday requested Public Lands Secretary Sixto K. Igisomar to provide him a copy of DPL’s grant for leasehold use of property by JMSH LLC, which does business as Rota Resort and Country Club. The senator said he, along with other lawmakers, wants to review the leasehold agreement.
Manglona, in his letter to Igisomar, said that recent advertising indicates that the Rota Resort outlook appears to be so dire that the resort’s furniture/fixtures are for sale at bargain prices.
He said the golf course has degraded as its fairways and greens have been left wholly unattended and overgrown.
The senator said he recently had the opportunity to meet and confer with Rota Resort’s president/chief executive officer Hee Cho in Guam, during which they talked about the resort’s dismal physical condition and perpetual inactivity of the hotel, restaurant, and golf course. He said Cho and his subordinates have no plans in the horizon to revive the resort.
File photo of Rota Resort and Country Club. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)
Manglona said he is wondering if the lease agreement might contain any provisions requiring the resort owner/management to operate and maintain the resort’s premises, golf course, restaurant, and other amenities, to a standard reasonably expected of similar resorts.
Alternatively, Manglona wants to know whether the lease agreement provides for cancellation, modification, or termination of the lease in the event of Rota Resort’s unwillingness or inability to adhere to such reasonable standards.
Additionally, perhaps the lease agreement provides for prospective waiver or deferment of the resort’s lease payments in the event of tourism arrival diminution, in the wake of typhoons Mangkhut and Yutu, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Manglona said.
He said he wants to know if the lease agreement also provides that DPL or the CNMI offer incentives to the resort for resumption of normal operations.
