[CPEO-MEF] CEREMONY RETURNS 25 PARCELS OF NAVY LAND BACK TO GUAM

[mervtano@iiirm.org]

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai=91=
i


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CEREMONY RETURNS 25 PARCELS OF NAVY LAND BACK TO GUAM

By Tanya M.C. Mendiola
Pacific Daily News

HAG=C5T=D1A, Guam (June 6, 2001 =AD Pacific Daily News)---More than a=
 thousand
landowners who had property taken by the military as long as 60 years ago
will soon receive titles to their land.

A signing ceremony was held yesterday at the governor's office in Adelup to
turn over 25 parcels of land to the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission, said
Joseph Borja, commission executive director.

Gov. Carl Gutierrez signed two deeds for approximately 2,748 acres of
land -- the last of the property returned from the Navy under the 1994 Guam
Land Use Plan.

The properties include areas of Naval Magazine in Santa Rita, Sasa Valley
Tenjo Vista in Piti, Nimitz Hill, Tiyan, Radio Barrigada, Mangilao,
Tamuning, Harmon and Dededo.

"I was very pleased to affix my signature to the documents returning these
... properties to the government of Guam today," Gutierrez is quoted as
saying in a press release. "It is a historic milestone for the descendants
of the original landowners and an important step in the return of those
lands."

In November 2000, the Navy leased the excess properties to the Guam=
 Economic
Development Authority and in April, the deed to the leased land was
transferred to the development authority, said Ed Untalan, GEDA
administrator.

"It's now going from one government of Guam agency to the government of=
 Guam
agency in charge of returning it back to the original landowners," Borja
said. "This is the step that makes it definite that this 'government of
Guam' property is going back to the original landowner."

The lots will be surveyed and original landowners will be identified.

There are about 350 lots on the 25 parcels and there are about 1,400
families who will get their land back.

The process should take about 45 to 60 days, Borja said.

The commission is still waiting for the Air Force to return land that was
deemed excess under the land-use plan, Borja said.

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