In her letter to DPL Secretary Marianne Concepcion-Teregeyo, the senator said the “unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on residents’ finances, especially for the hundreds of government workers who have been furloughed or terminated.”
She said, “These economic setbacks most certainly challenge our homesteaders’ financial capability to meet the requirements of the homestead program.”
The senator said a moratorium on the revocation of homesteads “would give homesteaders breathing room to direct their finances toward more immediate costs without worrying about whether they will lose their land.”
Santos said each homestead is “an asset to the eventual owner, and can be used productively in the future to help the owner recover from the losses incurred during the pandemic.”
She said it is “for these reasons that I humbly ask that you consider placing a moratorium on the revocation of homesteads until such time that the CNMI is Covid-19-free and homesteaders are gainfully employed.”
A moratorium of two years appears reasonable, Santos said, but added that she is “open to further discuss with DPL what it may deem an appropriate time frame.”
