By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE minority members of the House of Representatives warned yesterday the indigenous people stand to lose their most precious possession—land—if pending legislation seeking to relax laws on lease terms for both private and public lands are adopted.
The bills referred to are: Senate Legislative Initiative 14-03 which proposes a constitutional amendment to Article XII of the CNMI Constitution to extend from 55 years to 75 years the leasehold term on private properties, and; House Legislative Initiative No. 14-10 which seeks to amend Article XI, section 5(c) of the CNMI Constitution to increase the leasehold interest in public lands.
Speaking on behalf of minority members—Reps. Arnold Palacios, Heinz Hofschneider, David Apatang, Benjamin Seman, Joseph Deleon Guerrero and Jess Attao—Rep. Ramon Tebuteb said they prefer a status quo position on the said laws which limit to a maximum of 40 years the lease term on public land and to 55 years for private property subject to renegotiation.
“We have a consensus to support status quo on the legislative initiative being proposed..... If we do want to make changes, it would be for a political reason,” said Tebuteb.
“We have a very small piece of land here. (If you change the system) it’s almost like severing your umbilical cord from your source of food,” he added.
Hofschneider explained under Article XI, public land can be initially leased for a maximum of 25 years.
When the first term expires, the lessor and the lessee can renegotiate to extend it for 15 more years.
He said this rule was drafted back in the Trust Territory days to protect the interests of the indigenous people, which the U.N. and the U.S. presumed to be naive as far as protecting their rights.
The lawmaker said a maximum 40 years is enough for any investor to recoup his investment and there’s no need to change it at this time for economic reasons.
He added that based on various studies, a lessee can recoup his investment in as little as seven years.
Article XII, which lays out the rules on leasing private lands, according to Hofschneider, was also designed to protect the interest of the indigenous people.
Palacios, chairman of the ways and means committee, said many lawmakers are concerned about the pending legislation seeking to amend the CNMI Constitution regarding land rules.
He said the issue surfaces every time a new Legislature is formed.
“Many of us are very concerned about how this issue of Articles 11 and 12 continue to come up in every new Legislature. We believe that land is our most valuable resource. To open it up (for lease extension) is a potential exploitation of the local and the indigenous people. Creating a landless indigenous people is a great and monumental concern for us,” he said.