HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Alice Taijeron is no longer at the helm of the Chamorro Land Trust Commission. After serving as the executive director of the CLTC since January, Taijeron retired, effective Oct. 13, according to Krystal Paco-San Agustin, spokesperson for the Office of the Governor.
With Taijeron gone, acting Gov. Josh Tenorio tapped John Burch, the executive director of the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission, to lead the agency temporarily.
“I’m detailed here … to be the acting administrator for the Chamorro Land Trust Commission. I’m still the director, or executive director, of the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission,” Burch said Thursday, as he introduced himself to commissioners during his first day on the job.
“I got notice I was the acting director at about 5 o’clock (Wednesday). I was at a meeting at the governor’s office,” Burch added.
He commented later, in what sounded like a joke, that he wished he were given a week or more notice, rather than “a couple of hours.”
One of the matters that the CLTC has been overseeing is the issue of Ypao Point. At least for now, that matter falls on Burch as well.
The acting director said Thursday that he didn’t want to see Ypao Point taken from the commission, as the land could be used to raise money for CLTC activities.
Ypao Point in Tamuning is being recommended by members of the medical community and is eyed by certain lawmakers to be the site of a new hospital.
However, the governor’s administration is against using Ypao Point, and has instead targeted a larger swath of land in Barrigada to serve as home to not only a new hospital, but an entire medical complex. The land in Barrigada belongs to GALC, which authorized a survey and appraisal of the properties in July as part of the process to facilitate the sale or lease of the land for the medical complex.
Ypao Point currently is under the jurisdiction of the CLTC, and has been described as one of the most valuable properties under the commission’s control. During her time at the agency, Taijeron testified against using Ypao Point for a new hospital, as the CLTC planned to use the site to generate revenue for the construction of infrastructure in residential and agricultural CLTC properties.
Lawmakers convened an oversight hearing Thursday afternoon on the status of Ypao Point. Burch appeared at the hearing to say that CLTC’s objective is to lease that land for commercial purposes, and that the available property at the site appeared to be too small to accommodate a medical complex. He urged lawmakers to support the governor’s pursuit of property “adequately sized” to house the medical complex.
After the hearing, Speaker Therese Terlaje’s office issued a press release stating that her committee affirms the viability of Ypao Point for a new hospital amid “practical concerns.” The speaker addressed the CLTC in the release, among other issues from the oversight hearing.
“If we can address CLTC’s concerns the way the (governor’s) administration proposes to address ancestral lands, there seems to be no major impediment to building a hospital at Ypao Point except for the willingness of the governor,” Terlaje said in the release.
John Burch, the executive director of the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission, seen in this file photo from Oct. 14, 2023, will serve as the acting administrator for the Chamorro Land Trust Commission.
