MPLT adopted a resolution on April 25 authorizing chairman Alvaro Santos to “negotiate the purchase of 4,000 sq.m. of real property located on Capital Hill and to accept a purchase of $68 per square meter.”
Vicente M. Sablan, principal appraisal of V.M. Sablan & Associates, submitted to MPLT on May 23 the market value report of the property.
On May 14, MPLT and land owners Vicente and Martina D. Camacho signed the contract of sale.
On the same day, MPLT paid the land owners $27,200, or 10 percent of the total price as stipulated in the contract of sale.
The payment was received by Viola Sablan, as agent of the land owners.
On May 15, MPLT paid the land owners $244,800.
In appraising the lot purchased by MPLT, the “sale comparison approach” was the primary method applied to develop the value indication of the site, according to the summary of a complete appraisal report by Sablan.
In his market value report to MPLT dated May 23, Sablan said the sale comparison approach is the most common method of valuing land and “it generally result in the most accurate indication of land value when sufficient comparable sales are available.
He added, “This appraisal was performed to provide an estimate of the market value of the subject property in terms of cash or in terms of financial arrangement equivalent to cash as of May 20, the effective date of the appraisal and the date of inspection. The intended use of this appraisal is to provide the client and the landowners with information regarding the subject property market data and the market value estimate for use as negotiation tool between the client and the landowners.”
Sablan said during the appraisal process, the appraisers made a physical inspection of the property with lot no 033 E 17 located at Mate Drive, Capital Hill, Saipan.
The inspection, he added, included the neighborhood and the comparable properties.
An analysis of the physical economic, governmental and social conditions which affected real property values was also made, he said.
“Based on this investigation and analysis, it is our option that the market value of the subject property in terms of cash or equivalent subject to the definition, certification and limiting conditions set forth in the accompanying report, as of the effective date was $284,000,” Sablan’s report stated.
Taotao Tano president Greg Cruz believes that the evaluation of the lot was not made based on the actual value of the property.
Former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights spokesman and adviser, said their group remains opposed to MPLT’s purchasing a private lot.
“The method of selection and procurement of the purchase seemed arbitrary and raises the questions about the absence of an impartial and equitable procurement procedure,” Rasa told Variety.
