Palm trees and other vegetation are seen on Rota Resort’s unattended golf course.
Paper and office items are scattered on the floor of the Rota Resort office.
Some of Rota Resort’s golf clubs are scattered in its pro shop.
ROTA Sen. Paul A. Manglona on Friday expressed support for the termination of Rota Resort’s lease with the Department of Public Lands.
In an interview with Variety after the DPL concluded its evidentiary hearing, Manglona said leaseholder Hee Kyun Cho of Rota Resort was at fault in the dispute over the lease agreement.
“If I’m renting my friend’s house [and] the pandemic comes, maybe I can ask for a discount or a delay in my rental payment, but at a minimum I should at least cut the grass, make sure water and power are running, and when I leave the house at night, lock it so it doesn’t get looted,” Manglona said.
“But in Rota Resort’s case, [Cho] claims to be excused by the pandemic, but yet nobody is there to make sure the place doesn’t get ransacked, and the furniture is protected.”
Variety’s new files from April 26, 2023, depicted the Rota Resort in a state of disarray, with office supplies scattered around some indoor facilities, golf clubs strewn on the floor of its pro shop, and the golf course facility overgrown with trees and bushes.
Rota Resort’s lease was officially terminated in March of this year. Assistant Attorney General Ali Nelson, DPL’s legal counsel, noted during the evidentiary hearing that Rota Resort was sent a notification of violation of its lease in Dec. 2020.
Rota Resort has failed to pay its lease since 2020, and currently owes $639,897.37 to the CNMI, she added.
Manglona is hoping the issue stays out of court.
“If we take another three or four months through the court system, that’s three or four months of Rota not having this facility available, the only golf course closed down,” he said. “In our efforts to bring back tourism, we’re going to be held back.”
During Friday’s evidentiary hearing, Cho, who testified via video conference, said the lack of airport infrastructure was damaging to his business. He specifically mentioned Rota’s lack of an airline fuel tank, its short airport runway, and its runway compaction issues that prevented large aircraft from flying to Rota. This further reduced visitor arrivals, and caused him financial hardship.
“It looks like [the CNMI government] abandoned the island,” Cho said in his testimony.
He said it was only during the Covid-19 pandemic when he missed lease payments.
Represented by attorney Colin Thompson, Cho said the pandemic was a “force majeure,” which is an unforeseen circumstance that prevented him from fulfilling his contract.
Nelson on Friday said she did not dispute that the pandemic was a “force majeure.” However, she added that the burden of proving “force majeure” was on Cho, not on DPL. In other words, she said Cho should have contacted DPL within 30 days of the “force majeure” event. Moreover, lease payments and facility maintenance are “continuing obligations” that are outside the scope of “force majeure,” Nelson said.
