By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

JG Sablan Rock Quarry Inc.’s lead lawyer is confused by the case filed by the administration against the company on Friday.
“I am perplexed by the case that has been filed. It would seem that Department of Public Lands Secretary John Del Rosario does not want to give the Legislature a chance to respond because the legislature was not made a party,” said Michael Dotts.
Through the Attorney General’s Office, the administration filed a complaint on Friday asking the court to declare Public Law 15-21 unconstitutional.
The law reinstates JG Sablan’s permit to mine pozzolan on Pagan.
Dotts said his client will respond to the lawsuit within 20 days.
The company’s chief executive officer, John T. Sablan, said they believe that the case should not have been brought against JG Sablan Rock Quarry as the complaint deals with a constitutional issue.
But Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the administration believes that the case was properly filed.
“Our attorneys believe the filing was proper. We rely on their legal expertise and advice on important constitutional matters,” he told Variety yesterday.
After the administration voided JG Sablan’s mining permit on May 3, lawmakers passed the bill that became P.L. 15-21, which was enacted after the governor had vetoed it on July 29.
The administration claims that P.L. 15-21 “constitutes an impermissible exercise of executive power by the Legislature” with respect to the 1995 permit held by JG Sablan that the Department of Public Lands had terminated.
It was the then-Division of Public Lands of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources that issued a permit to JG Sablan on Sept. 9, 1995, to mine pozzolan and basalt on “certain real properties” on Pagan.