‘Abolish MPLA board’

The transition committee for the Marianas Public Lands Authority has recommended that its board be abolished and that the statute governing the agency be amended through an executive order, saying that MPLA should be free from the political interference and possible corruption “it was once subjected to while under the rule of previous administrations.”

The transition committee said that the current board would not be loyal and cooperative with the new administration and its outlined platform, urging the Fitial administration to request for the courtesy resignation of all four current board members.

It said the current board members should be immediately replaced with new ones “who are responsible, reliable, accountable, and with respect for the interest of the indigenous people and its public lands.”

The MPLA board currently consists of chairperson Ana Demapan-Castro, Nicolas Nekai, Felix Sasamoto and Manuel Villagomez.

“The common denominator of all the problems at MPLA is the lack of leadership and management of the current board of directors, and its appointed management team,” the committee’s report stated. “MPLA needs a board of directors who will not micro-manage the agency and respect the actions of the administration.”

“Should the board of directors ignore the call for their resignation, this transition team recommends, based on its findings which will be exposed, applying the power of the executive order of the governor-elect to abolish the MPLA board of directors and amend Public Law 12-71 with a new board of directors, and amend its function and to promulgate policies and procedures for its operations,” the committee added.

The committee pushed for the appointment of a new board member from Rota who will carry out its recommendations on the MPLA, if the administration rejects the proposal about the issuance of an executive order.

The committee urged the administration to immediately review and amend the MPLA’s organizational chart, saying that many past reorganizations display no real justification other than to promote, demote and/or reassign employees. It recommended the immediate review of all policies at the agency, including personnel, to protect employee rights.

Other than the MPLA’s ability to generate revenue from public land leases, the committee pinpointed numerous findings that identify purported defects regarding how the agency is being run.

The committee said certain board members hire employees without proper documentation and with disregard to Equal Employment Opportunity mandates. “It has been reported that such employees reported to work without any prior processing of a personnel action or signed contract.”

The committee said the board hired immediate family members for top management positions. “Top level management positions are being hired directly by the board of directors, which dampens the morale of employees at MPLA. Current division chiefs are replaced by newly hired staff without any experience in these particular areas.”

The transition team also said movement of employees from one division to another was being done without any justification. It said contractual terms of employees are variable, with some enjoying contracts of up to four years and 90-day contract extensions, while others are limited to one-year contracts.

“Managers and division chiefs are being tested of their loyalty by being assigned administrative tasks, which could be easily assigned to clerical level employees,” it said. “Employees are not being maximized of their experience and background and are being misplaced within the organization.”

The committee also pointed out the lack of an educational leave policy, disclosing that the board granted educational leave to a particular employee while others who requested for similar benefit were denied.

The transition team alleged that the MPLA’s chief of planning lacks management skills and was not familiarized with the position and duties of all the staff under his supervision. The committee also made a similar remark about the Homestead chief, alleging that the latter has shown unfair treatment and harassment of certain employees. The committee further pointed out that the Archives chief is a division head without any personnel under his direct supervision.

“[The] newly created Public Information Office is functioning without any established guidelines or direction. The public information officer is not given full knowledge of certain issues pertaining to MPLA,” the committee said.

The committee also recommended the reduction and merging of divisions within the agency, citing as an example the PIO, which could be merged with the Archives Division.

It also disclosed that some offices, including the Planning Division, lack efficient computers and equipment to do its task, with some workers simply bringing their own computers to the workplace. The committee added that some employees have Internet access, while others do not have such access to perform their duties.