Godfrey S. Mendiola, son of Santiago A. Mendiola, one of the biggest landowners on Rota, yesterday said the “heirs of the Mendiola clan” will close the road on Aug. 30 if their demand for compensation is not addressed by the Fitial administration.
Mendiola told Variety they are also contemplating a $100 million suit against the government if the 40 hectares land issue is not resolved.
In his letter to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, Mendiola said he did not agree with the exchange of the Agusan/Swimming Hole property to Gaonan without just appraisal value and fair compensation “including the compensation for punitive damages, back-pay, interests, mental anguish and most of all economic loss.”
Mendiola asked the governor to take action so that the road closure will not be necessary.
“Your attention and consideration will ultimately preserve and restore the integrity of the government by ending the suffering and injustice of the heirs of the Mendiola clan once and for all,” he told the governor.
Rota Municipal Council secretary Vicente M. Calvo said the closure of Gaonan Estate will “practically cut the accessibility of farmers, ranchers, tourists and even the residents” of Rota.
“They have to go all the way to the other side of the island to get there,” Calvo said.
He hopes the governor will immediately satisfy the needs of the family to avoid the “disruption.”
According to Mendiola, the government is trespassing on their ancestral property.
The government executed a lease agreement for a golf course of Rota Resort “without my consent or approval nor being a part of the lease agreement,” he added.
Mendiola disclosed that the then-Marianas Public Land Corp. subdivided the remaining parcel and distributed the land for homestead.
“We were not consulted,” he said. “While we were sacrificed along with our children, others benefited from Rota’s biggest land scandal known during the economic boom of the 1990’s. We all know who they are.”
He said the Marianas Public Land Trust has yet to compensate them while already lending money to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
“I no longer will tolerate being a victim of bureaucracy,” Mendiola said.
He said their land was exchanged swiftly but it took them almost 12 years of waiting for the issuance of a certification from the governor.
