PTI, DPL revive talks on land lease dispute

Pacific Telecom, Inc. and the new Department of Public Lands have revived negotiations that had bogged down between the company and the government agencies predecessor, the Marianas Public Lands Authority, in connection with certain public land leases.

PTI general manager Tony Mosley said the talks resumed earlier last week, and that he is optimistic that an amicable settlement will be reached expeditiously.

“We’re making progress,” Mosley said. “We’re working quickly to resolve the issues that are outstanding.”

Former CNMI Chief Justice Jose Dela Cruz, a board member of PTI, joined the initial talks. PTI’s manager for government relations and public affairs Tonie Apatang and litigation attorney Colin Thompson also represented the company.

Representing the government were Gov. Benigno Fitial’s special legal counsel Howard Willens, acting DPL secretary John DelRosario, DPL legal counsel Alan Lane, and executive Vince Castro, according to Mosley.

The defunct MPLA and the telecom firm had reached a deadlock in their negotiations until the abolition of the agency.

Early this year, Fitial pushed for the abolition of the MPLA and its autonomy and the agency’s transfer to the executive branch, alleging misuse of public funds and mismanagement by the defunct agency’s board. The MPLA became the new Department of Public Lands through legislation.

The dispute between the then MPLA and the telecom company stemmed from disagreement over easement fees from the use of right-of-way on public lands to bury telecom cables underground. The agency demanded PTI some $2.1 million as easement fees, but the telecom firm disputed this and said that the easement formed part of its franchise from the CNMI government. The company also said the agency could not retroactively impose the fees.

The MPLA and its board sued PTI and Micronesian Telecommunications Corp., which the company wholly owns, after the companies disputed the agency’s demand for payment of easement fees—less than a month after PTI purchased all of MTC’s common stocks for approximately $60 million late last year.

The lawsuit alleged that the companies breached the terms of public land leases improperly used public lands in burying their cables without paying the agency some easement fees.

Following the MPLA’s filing of the suit, talks bogged down until then Gov. Juan N. Babauta announced on Oct. 20, 2005 that he had urged MPLA to get back to the negotiating table. Renewed talks bogged down last Oct. 27.

On Nov. 2, PTI and MTC sought the transfer of the MPLA’s lawsuit against them from the CNMI Superior Court to Saipan’s federal court, alleging that the agency’s causes of action were based on claims that infringe upon the U.S. Constitution and federal law. MTC and PTI filed with the federal court a notice of removal, saying that MTC is a duly franchised CNMI telecommunications local exchange carrier subject to the provisions of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The companies also accused the MPLA of engaging in discriminatory practices, particularly in the agency’s bid to impose certain public land lease and easement requirements.