Thorny Land Alienation Issue
A few years from now, the indigenous people of these islands would have to decide whether to leave intact land ownership to people of NMI descent or scrap it altogether. That land has and still is a very emotional issue anywhere in the world, the impending decision will also be riddled with emotion, regardless of which side of the spectrum you may be.
If land alienation was intended to ensure that ownership remains in indigenous hands so to prevent the loss of our last asset, it has grandly succeeded but in the process it has also given birth to difficult questions especially for those who have made these islands their home.
We’re not about to take sides for we also take full view of the historical significance of such provision in the Covenant. Ours is basically to encourage deliberative discussions among ourselves so that we come to terms with an issue that literally alienates longtime residence from a community they sought some form of permanent belonging.
From the outset, this provision was and still is mired in controversy. At the fundamental level, questions of fairness emerged among landowners who argue that such provision has denied them the value of their property in that purchase of said land is limited to the indigenous population. There are only a few (less than five) locals who can actually pay for the value of a certain property. The balance is bogged down to the “familia” valuation method or undervalued sale of property.
In the process, we see the tsunami-like emergence of locals fronting for big corporations trumpeting a discordant note of “a deal is a deal” to shield themselves after short circuiting the intent of the land alienation provision. Then there’s the sincere group of non-indigenous who have lived here nearly all their lives and have opted to make these isles their home basically displaced by the same provision.
This is one heart-wrenching experience in the sense that to this day they have not been able to build a sense of belonging in a community where they’ve literally reared their children since birth. Perhaps this is the obvious inhumane aspect of the land alienation provision that has at best, alienated and displaced a sincere group of friends who have made these islands the rock of their siblings. Do we continue alienating them?
If anything, it would seem plausible to say that the very intent of restricting land ownership to the indigenous people may have been lost in the bubble years of the eighties. And there are legal cases where in fact non-indigenous have been awarded land that is contrary to the spirit and letter of the Land Alienation provision.
This issue definitely warrants more deliberative discussions however an emotional one for locals whose view of land ownership is gulfs apart from the conventional wisdom that land is just another commodity. Let’s trump our cards and see where our collective wisdom eventually falls.
Strictly a personal view. John S. DelRosario Jr. is publisher of Saipan Tribune
