Previous Story
MPLA releases $3.4M for land compensation
|
Posted on Feb 22 2005
The Marianas Public Lands Authority has awarded over $3.4 million to land compensation claimants, the agency announced yesterday.
MPLA public information officer Ed Arriola Jr. said the money was used to pay out 10 to 15 individuals whose properties had been taken by the government for public infrastructure projects.
The latest batch of land compensation payments brings to almost $7 million the total amount disbursed from MPLA’s $40-million land compensation fund.
Public Law 13-17, or the Land Compensation Act of 2002, authorized MPLA and the Commonwealth Development Authority to incur a $40-million public debt for the settlement of land compensation claims against the Commonwealth.
However, only $28 million of this amount was set aside for compensation awards.
Some $9 million was reserved for the Susupe adult prison project, while another $1.9 million was given for interim financing. The rest of the money was budgeted for underwriter fees, as well as bond counsel fees and other costs related to the issuance of land compensation checks.
“The MPLA board, management, and staff of the MPLA would like to thank the recipients for their patience and understanding. MPLA’s Land Compensation Task Force is working diligently processing many more land compensation cases located in Rota, Tinian and Saipan,” MPLA commissioner Edward Deleon Guerrero said in news release.
For her part, MPLA chairwoman Ana Demapan-Castro took the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Justice Pedro Atalig, who had served in the MPLA board of directors.
“I remember working with Justice Pedro Atalig a few years back. Although he was an attorney and justice of the Supreme Court, he gave his time to the MPLA. He fought not only for indigenous lands but also for indigenous rights and privileges. We will all surely miss him,” Demapan-Castro said.
