Former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights spokesman and adviser, said their group may take MPLT to court.
MPLT Chairman Alvaro Santos justified the purchase of the 4,000 sq.m. land at $68 per sq. m., saying that it is an “investment venture” that will allow the land trust to save on rent payments, generate revenue from rentals and increase its asset value.
“This is not the way to invest the money — they are competing with the private sector,” Rasa said.
He claims that there is a “conflict of interest” involved in the $700,000 transaction of MPLT with Vicente and Martina Camacho, owner of the private land on Capital Hill.
“It appears that certain parties stand to benefit on this action,” Rasa said, adding they will seek legal remedy once they gather sufficient “credible evidence” to support their claims.
Variety was told that the girlfriend of a brother of an MPLT official brokered the deal with the Camacho family, and that a legislator who has a sister on the MPLT board is a frequent visitor of the Camacho residence.
Rasa said MPLT funds generated from the leases and rentals of public lands should be used according to its purpose.
MPLT, he said, controls 60 percent of the revenue from the lease and rental of public lands.
Section 1 Article 12 of the Constitution, Rasa said, states that “the acquisition of permanent and long-term interests in real property within the commonwealth shall be restricted to persons of Northern Marianas descent.”
“Now who owns the money of MPLT? Is it the indigenous people or the general population,” he asked.
Rasa also cited Section 805 of the Covenant:
“[T]he Government of the Northern Mariana Islands, in view of the importance of the ownership of land for the culture and traditions of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, and in order to protect them against exploitation and to promote their economic advancement and self-sufficiency:
“(a) will until 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, and may thereafter, regulate the alienation of permanent and long-term interests in real property so as to restrict the acquisition of such interests to persons of Northern Mariana Islands descent; and
(b) may regulate the extent to which a person may own or hold land which is now public land.”
The NMI officially ceased to be a Trust Territory in 1986, which means that in 2011, commonwealth voters may decide whether to change their current law that restricts land ownership to indigenous people.
