By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

GUAM senators reiterated their call for the Pentagon to include the local civilian population in the military expansion planning on Guam, saying that the local community will be much affected by the population increase resulting from the Marines’ relocation.
“The Marines’ relocation planning process must be approached holistically. When the Marines come here, they should be integrated into the local community. The military and civilian population cannot be segregated,” Sen. Jesse A. Lujan, R-Tamuning, said.
The planning process, he added, must be done collaboratively considering that both sides will be affected by the outcome of the military expansion on island.
“Our civilian population may not be able to travel the roads on base, but they will be traveling our roads,” Lujan said.
Senators met with Major General David Bice, executive director of the Department of Defense’s Joint Guam Program Office, and Rear Admiral Joe Leidig, commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Marianas, at the Navy base last week, to discuss the local population’s concerns about the relocation of 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam.
Sen. Tony Unpincgo, R-Santa Rita, said he was glad that the military officials agreed to finally meet with members of the Legislature.
“They said they will continue to meet with us. We are living in a democratic society, where the input of everyone must be considered,” Unpingco said.
“In an efficient form of government, there is no other way things can be done without including everyone. You cannot take just one segment to represent the entire society,” Unpingco said.
Sen. Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, reiterated his call to his colleagues to act on his bill that would create a military-civilian commission to represent the civilian population in the planning process.
“During our meeting with General Bice, he mentioned his wish that there be one central group that military officials can talk to when they’re here,” Respicio said.
He said the governor’s Military-Civilian Task Force cannot speak on behalf of the civilian population considering that it is headed by Gen. Donald Goldhorn, commander of the Guam National Guard.
“There is an imbalance in that task force because the driving force behind it is General Goldhorn. If you want to send a message from the civilian community, you don’t send a task force headed by a high-ranking military official,” Respicio said.
“The commission that I am proposing is more balanced because it will have representatives from all sectors of the civilian society, with the governor as the head,” he added.