Arnold I. Palacios
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios said he will not intervene in the dispute between Saipan Mayor Ramon “RB” Camacho and Department of Public Lands Secretary Teresita Santos over quarry materials.
“I’m going to make them realize that they are adults — [they’ve] got to figure this out. They have to put away … personalities, personal animosities that obviously [have] been going on — they have to learn how to do that,” the governor told reporters on Monday.
“I can’t continue to be the referee for this. I already told the DPL secretary, ‘You need to figure out [how] to work with the mayor.’ This is just an unfortunate distraction that could readily be avoided if we all just act like adults,” Palacios added.
Recently, Mayor Camacho asked the governor to intervene in the mayor’s dispute with DPL.
“This issue has gone on for over a year now, and it has direct and serious implications for public safety and the well-being of our community on the island of Saipan,” Camacho said.
He said his office has been relying on the Temporary Occupancy Agreements or TOA to secure quarry materials from quarry operators on public land leases.
“These materials are essential for performing much needed road repairs throughout the island,” Camacho said. “Unfortunately, the Secretary of DPL has refused to honor and enforce this agreement, leaving us unable to procure the necessary materials for the benefit of the public,” he added.
In a statement, Santos said: “The types and quantity of coral base materials that may be extracted as a public benefit from a quarry are controlled by the language of the TOA issued by … DPL for that quarry.”
As a result, she said, the benefit may vary from agreement to agreement and from quarry to quarry.
“To avoid ambiguity in the interpretation of the public benefit provision of the Temporary Occupancy Agreements, DPL has revised Article 11 of its agreement template to clearly state the quantity and process for obtaining coral base materials,” Santos added.
Article 11 now states that a CNMI agency can avail itself of coral base coarse materials at no cost by making a request to the quarry operator or permittee on the following terms:
“During each year of the permit term, Permittee shall provide a total of 100 cubic yards of coral base coarse materials extracted from the Premises to the CNMI government at no charge. This total may be allocated by Permittee to a single CNMI government agency or divided among multiple CNMI government agencies. Requests for material shall be fulfilled by Permittee in the order the requests are received. The contribution of material at no charge does not include processed materials (i.e., aggregates and manufactured sands) and does not include delivery services. Permittee shall be exempted from paying royalty fees for the amount of quarry materials supplied to the government. However, it shall be the responsibility of the Permittee to keep detailed records of any and all quarry materials provided to the government. This detailed record shall be submitted as a separate report from the royalty report required to be submitted by the Permittee, but must be submitted on the same due date as the royalty report.”
The DPL secretary said, “For consistency, all new Temporary Occupancy Agreements issued to quarry operators since February/March 2024 contain this language, and all agreements with active quarry operators were amended accordingly.”
Santos said, “DPL’s intention is not to prioritize private businesses over the public welfare. To the contrary, DPL’s intention is to maximize its revenue (including royalty fees) from public lands for the benefit of the NMDs,” referring to persons of Northern Marianas descent.
“In the spirit of cooperation and service,” Santos said, “DPL has been accommodating (and continues to accommodate) meeting requests by relevant stakeholders to ensure that the needs of our NMDs and of the CNMI are met with the highest professionalism and in accordance with the statutory laws and Constitution.”
For example, she added, DPL has previously offered the Municipality of Saipan a Temporary Occupancy Agreement for a site in Obyan that could be operated by the municipality as a municipal quarry.
Santos encourages all interested parties to contact DPL with any questions or concerns.
As DPL secretary, she said she “retains fiduciary responsibility for all matters relating to public land transactions, except on a case-by-case basis where necessary to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict.”
