Proposed legislation wants to abolish DPL

A proposed legislation wants to abolish the Department of Public Lands and establishing in its place the Marianas Lands Corp. with a Board of Trustees.

In a statement Friday afternoon, Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan) said the MLC Board of Trustees “will manage and control the public lands in the Commonwealth, which collectively belong to persons of Northern Marianas descent, pursuant to Section 1 of Article XI of the Northern Mariana Islands Constitution.”

Ogumoro said “since its inception, DPL has been operating and making independent decisions directly related to the management and disposition of public lands–such as public land leases and village homestead development–without the presence, input, advice of, or voting by the Public Lands Advisory Board as required by Public Law 15-2.”

“Due to the scarcity of public lands in the Commonwealth, it is imperative that such lands are managed as effectively as possible,” she said.

Ogumoro said her bill will rectify this situation through the establishment of the MLC, with a Board of Trustees charged with the management and disposition of Northern Marianas descent-owned public lands.

The lawmaker said she is “troubled that DPL has been withholding funds derived from public land leases, which should have been remitted to the Marianas Public Land Trust to invest for the benefit of persons of Northern Marianas descent.”

“This practice on the part of DPL is unacceptable, and in violation of Public Law 15-2 and the NMI Constitution,” Ogumoro said.

Ogumoro said the proposed MLC Board of Trustees will have a clear mandate of their powers and responsibilities in managing public lands, including the remittance of funds to MPLT.”

She said her bill also mandates the hiring of the an MLC administrator and controller “to ensure appropriate enforcement and compliance of the fundamental provisions of the Act.”

Shrugging it off

Representatives of DPL were not available last Friday to comment on Ogumoro’s proposal.

Ogumoro’s bill is just one of the few proposed legislation seeking to radically change the DPL.

Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) and other members of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation earlier said they are looking at amending a law to allow the Department of Lands and Natural Resources to be the administrator of landing fees at Managaha Island instead of the DPL.

But for Tenorio, this can be “problematic.”

“The problem is that if you (lawmakers) disagree with something or something is against your own political will, you just want to change it. I don’t think that is the way to do it.”

Tenorio earlier maintained that legislators should always “look at it from the standpoint of what the Constitution says.”

Another proposed legislation is Senate Bill 19-42, which was introduced by Sen. Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan), prohibiting the lease of public land for live fire and bombing exercises.

Tenorio also earlier said the bill is “unnecessary because the Legislature already has the obligation and duty to approve and disapprove certain leases per Article 11 of the Constitution.”

The DPL chief further said one problem he sees is that “we don’t know what the U.S. is willing to pay,” and that “we would never know what is being offered unless discussion are conducted aimed at establishing some kind of fair market value for public lands that the military would be interested in leasing, such as Pagan, in its entirety or portion of it.”

He reiterated that the Legislature has the right to say “no” to discussions, and that there should an “open and balanced” discussions with the military.

Tenorio said the CNMI is not even on the stage of discussing how many years or how much land will be leased, yet proposed legislation seem to be “closing opportunity.”