Land Trust Commission to address AG's concerns about program

Residents are invited to a Chamorro Land Trust Commission meeting, set for 1 p.m. Thursday, where the commission is expected to address the attorney general's concerns about the way the Land Trust has administered its lease program.

Land Trust Chairwoman Pika Fejeran said the commission will discuss the attorney general's legal opinion on the issue and use it to develop plans to move forward. The meeting will be held on the third floor of the ITC building in Tamuning, in a Department of Land Management conference room.

According to Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson's opinion, issued last Friday, Land Trust leases issued to applicants who swapped places with someone else on the waiting list are null and void. The exception is when a designated relative took a dead applicant's place on the waiting list.

The opinion was prepared at the request of Sen. Régine Biscoe Lee, D-Tamuning, who received a residential lease in Barrigada Heights. Lee’s mother filed an application in 1995 to get on the waiting list, according to Lee, who said her mother obtained a lease in October 2016 and gifted it to Lee, for the benefit of Lee’s children.

The Land Trust holds public land for the benefit of the island's indigenous Chamorus, who are eligible for 99-year leases, at $1 per year. It is currently the subject of a legal challenge by the federal government, which has argued it illegally discriminates based on race.

The attorney general's opinion took a closer look at 103 leases issued for Land Trust property in Barrigada Heights. It states leases were issued to people already occupying the land; people who applied in December 1995; people who switched places in line with a 1995 applicant; and people who took over a 1995 applicant’s original place in line.

Barrett-Anderson also questioned the authority of the Land Trust administrative director to sign leases without first getting approval for those leases from the commissioners.

She said leases were approved by the administrative director, bypassing commission approval. The law gives the commission the authority to approve leases, she stated, and it cannot delegate that authority.

Fejeran said there have been 30 swaps, with 17 leases issued in Dededo, Barrigada, Yigo and Mangilao to applicants who changed places in line.

The first swap on the waiting list happened in 2004, which was authorized and approved by the administrative director, she said.

She said her review showed no evidence that the practice of switching places in line ever was presented for approval at the commission level and instead happened at the administrative level.

Fejeran also urged the public to attend legislative oversight hearings of the CLTC scheduled for 5 p.m. May 22, 24 and 29 at the Guam Congress building.

"I am optimistic that the commission, along with the support of the AG, all members of the legislature, and Governor Calvo, will succeed in fulfilling the mission of the CLTC, which is to provide equitable land distribution to our beneficiaries for the advancement of their well-being," Fejeran said.

She said if people aren't able to attend the meetings they can send concerns to pikapilarfejeran@gmail.com.