FORMER Reps. Sheila Babauta and Juan I. Tenorio on Tuesday expressed opposition to Mariana Eland Corporation’s proposal to lease the property in Marpi previously occupied by the defunct Mariana Resort & Spa.
The Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development, and Workforce, and the House Committee on Natural Resources conducted a joint public hearing at the Tanapag Youth Center at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to hear concerns and comments from the members of the public regarding Eland’s proposal.
Only four residents of Precinct 4 showed up. Two — Babauta and Tenorio — were opposed to the land lease proposal, while the other just wanted to listen to the discussions.
Speaking as a concerned citizen and resident of Precinct 4, Babauta said: “We don’t need another hotel. We have trouble filling up the [hotel] rooms that we already have…. We [also] don’t need another golf resort.”
She said Eland, which operates Kensington, PIC and Coral Ocean Resort, is already leasing “so much of our public land.”
She noted the “community benefit agreements to fulfill and workforce issues that all are going to be foreign — we know that our people are not going to be at the head of this type of business, and we know that many of the profits will be leaving our island.”
Speaking in Chamorro, Tenorio doubted Eland’s ability to fulfill another commitment when, he heard, that the company is implementing a reduction in force.
Rep. Vincent Aldan, a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said, “When you are cutting staff, because the economy is not doing good, what in the world makes you think that you can afford another million-dollar project?”
He echoed Babauta’s concern that “they [Eland] are taking too much of the public land and controlling too much of the tourism industry here. And we have to be very mindful of that. I don’t support this at all.”
No one from the Department of Public Lands or Eland attended the public hearing.
Sen. Corina Magofna, the chair of the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development, and Workforce, said the joint public hearing was for community members. However, she said, “it would have been great if they [DPL and Eland] attended to show support and talk to the constituents who will be affected by the proposed land lease.”
There was another joint public hearing scheduled for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School.
Magofna said the joint committee will give Eland another opportunity to appear before lawmakers because “we have more questions to ask and it’s the reason we are [meeting with] the community [to] get their concerns [and relay them to] DPL or Eland.”
DPL said it spends between $22,000 and $25,000 a month to maintain and secure the property.
Eland, for its part, intends to invest a minimum of $220 million in the renovation of existing structures and the improvement of the premises.
Besides Magofna and Aldan, the other lawmakers who attended the joint public hearing were Senate Vice President Karl King-Nabors, Senate Floor Leader Donald Manglona, Sen. Manny Castro, Sen. Ronnie Calvo, Vice Speaker Diego Vincent F. Camacho, Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao, Rep. Joel Camacho, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, Rep. Malcolm Omar and Rep. Angelo Camacho, the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao, Vice Speaker Diego Vince Camacho, Rep. Malcolm Omar, and Rep. Joel Camacho listen to former Rep. Sheila Babauta, back to the camera, during a joint public hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development, and Workforce and the House Committee on Natural Resources at the Tanapag Youth Center on Tuesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
The chair of the Senate Committee on Resources, Economic Development, and Workforce, Sen. Corina Magofna, and the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Angelo Camacho, conduct a joint public hearing at the Tanapag Youth Center on Tuesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
