The former governor said he is looking at MPLT records to determine how long the CNMI government has been using the interest from public land earnings.
MPLT’s principal earnings can be used only for persons of Northern Marianas Descent, or NMDs.
The only interest earned by MPLT that can be used for other purposes is the one from Tanapag Harbor, Tenorio said.
Article 9, Section 6 (d) of the CNMI Constitution allows the public land trustees to use the interest on the amount received for the lease of property at Tanapag Harbor for the development and maintenance of a memorial park.
Also, the trustees “shall transfer to the general revenues…the remaining interest accrued on the trust proceeds except that the trustees may retain the amount necessary to meet reasonable expenses of administration.”
The Tanapag Harbor is being leased by the U.S. National Park Service for American Memorial Park.
Tenorio noted that the transfer of interest to the general fund applies only to Tanapag Harbor leases and not to the other public lands.
He said from the $2 million the National Park Service pay the CNMI for the use of Tanapag Harbor, only up to $20,000 can be transferred to the general fund.
But what has been happening since 1978, Tenorio said, is that even the interest of the other public land leases are being transferred to the general fund and used for purposes other than for NMDs.
He estimates that since 1978, $2.5 million a year as interest from public land leases all over the CNMI is being transferred from MPLT to the general fund.
Tenorio said this “mistake” should be corrected promptly before the CNMI government “sinks into deeper trouble.”
But Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in a separate interview said the speaker may have a different interpretation of the pertinent constitutional provision.
Fitial said only the principal earnings in the MPLT funds are strictly for NMDs. The interest incurred from these, he added, can be transferred to the general fund for purposes the CNMI government deems necessary.
