NMI voters ratified a constitution that created an autonomous public lands entity, MPLC, whose members were appointed by the governor, subject to Senate confirmation. The CNMI Constitution stated that 12 years after its ratification, or in 1990, MPLC “shall be dissolved and its functions shall be transferred to the executive branch of government.”
But MPLC wasn’t dissolved until Lang Tenorio became governor in 1994. To justify taking over public lands, his administration disclosed pretty damning evidence of MPLC’s grave abuse of discretion, which included highly questionable land deals: wet lands, for example, were swapped for prime beachside properties.
Three years later, however, it was a general election year, and the Republican Legislature wanted to clip the Democratic governor’s powers. The GOP lawmakers’ main target was Lang’s control over public lands. They passed at least two bills to re-establish an autonomous board, but both were vetoed by the governor. The 10th House couldn’t get the required 2/3 override vote. But then-Speaker Benavente was undeterred. Needing only one more “hung’gan,” he suspended the roll call vote and asked the sergeant at arms to look for Heinz, who then sealed the override.
One of Lang’s legal counsels later admitted to me that there were just too many “temptations” involved in managing public lands.
And so the CNMI, once again, had an “independent” public lands board which, like its predecessor, promptly acted in ways that justified its abolition in 2006, shortly after Uncle Ben was sworn into office.
I must point out, however, that CNMI government boards are autonomous in name only. Their members are gubernatorial appointees. They are basically political hires who are supposed to conduct non-political business. In a small community, where the personal is always political, this is like asking inmates to run a correctional facility. No offense to inmates.
During last week’s discussions, House members in favor of a board pointed out allegations of abuse and questionable deals involving the governor’s DPL. Those who wanted the governor to retain control reminded their colleagues about the abuses of the MPLA board. One member even made a sweeping, and quite justified, criticism of government boards. “The question of whether we should have a board is a policy call,” Representative Dela Cruz said. “We need the right people. Who are they? We don’t know. Look at the [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] which used to have a board. [CUC] ran into the ground. It collapsed. Its board members had the fiduciary duty to ensure that the power plants were maintained. But look at what happened. Why was MPLA abolished? We know why. Maybe we should give DPL more time.”
Representative Benavente replied that management of public lands cannot be compared to the duties of CUC or other government boards. Yet he acknowledged that there were “failures,” too, when a board was in charge.
At this point, I expected a member to finally point out the proverbial elephant in the room, or in this case, the session hall:
If there were abuses in the management of public lands, whether committed by the governor/department secretary or a board, why weren’t they charged? Why weren’t they held accountable?
The current administration basked in the big hoopla created by the OPA report regarding the abuses of the MPLA board, but to date no one among these former officials have been brought to court by the governor’s AG. The statute of limitations may have already passed for some of the allegations.
When Uncle Ben got what he wanted — control over public lands — there was no longer any reason to go after the supposed MPLA culprits who, after all, are voters and are related to a lot of other voters.
This is precisely the problem with calls for local investigation in the CNMI. Their only rationale is to embarrass the designated political targets and justify the implementation of a certain policy. Once that is achieved, there will be no follow-ups. You’ll only remember that such and such an oversight hearing or an OPA report existed whenever it’s mentioned by this newspaper or if you’re watching MCV’s old news broadcasts late in the evening.
All this makes the public increasingly cynical — and extremely thankful for the existence of federal prosecutors and courts.
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