By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

DEMOCRATIC senators have filed two bills seeking to support sports facility development projects on Guam. 
Bill 18 proposes to authorize a 25-year lease of a 26.5-acre property in Agat to the Guam Football Association for the construction of a southern sports complex. 
The bill, proposed by Sens. Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, and Tina Muna Barnes, D-Mangilao, says the lease of the lot, “which has been sitting dormant for more than a dozen years,” will be a benefit to the people, especially to the youth of Guam.
“The lease shall restrict use of the property to those normally found at sports facilities including training areas, sports fields and stadiums, sports related concessions and parking facilities,” Bill 18 states.
Respicio and Barnes also introduced Bill 19, which would mandate the Guam Waterworks Authority and the Guam Power Authority to establish “reasonable rates” for water and power consumption for sports and recreational facilities located on government properties leased and operated by nonprofit organizations.
The bill’s authors noted that these facilities, which are “often operated on shoestring budgets,” provide venue for sports and recreational activities “that may not be otherwise available to train the young men and women of Guam.”
They said young athletes should be given “safe and wholesome outlets for activities and character development.”