Land encroachment

Land encroachment

Monday, 04 January 2010 01:48
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

Younex development plan includes private land acquisitions

LANDOWNERS in Harmon Annex met yesterday to discuss an approved plan for Younex Corporation’s development plan for a workers village that includes taking 100 feet of private properties on various sides of the development lot for easements.

Several families would be affected by the land grab including the Manglona and Namauleg clans as well as the Ignacio Ojeda Aguon family, the Joaquin L.G. Aguon clan, Terry Aguon and Ignacio Pangelinan.

The proposed Puntan Dos Amantes zoning plan has already been approved by the Guam Land Use Commission and was transferred to Gov. Felix Camacho. It now awaits review by the legislature.

Last month Younex signed a $200 million contract with STX Group, a South Korean company, to build an 18,000-bed workers village for H2 workers.

“This is a lot of land, 100 feet on all sides of the affected properties. We're not just going to let them take our property,” Pangelinan said.

Pangelinan said that when the Land Use Commission met on Dec. 10, they did not inform him or the other administrators about the meeting and there was no public notice announcement about the meeting.

David Tydingco, president of Younex Corporation, could not be reached as of press time last night.

Open violation

“In other words, they are in violation of the open government law which requires that any government agency has to publicly announce that they're going to hold a meeting five days prior to inform the public,” Pangelinan said.

Pangelinan said Younex is using the military buildup as the impetus to quickly push forward the approval of the zoning.

“Younex is rushing this to their advantage and they're using the military buildup as an excuse in order to have the land use commission approve the two parcels,” Pangelinan said.

“Younex wants easy access to NCTAMS. They have their own agenda. But there's a problem for them with the landowners. We never sat down and talked with Younex or land management or the land use commission. And they didn't properly notify the landowners or the administrators of the Dec. 10, GLUC meeting,” Pangelinan added.

Pangelinan brought up a 1956 land map that recognized a bull cart trail within the area. The Commission recognizes bull cart trails as a road, said Pangelinan. However, another survey was taken by Perry & Associates for the Navy for military acquisition and this map did not recognize the bull cart trail.

“They're trying to follow the old military map that Perry & Associates did for the military. This is the Navy map which did not follow the 1956 map,” said Pangelinan.

Ready to march

While property owners are ready to march down to Sen. Ben Pangelinan's office to protest, the lawmaker said yesterday that before any properties are zoned, his intention is to hold public hearings on these lands.

“The GLUC approved the zoning plan, sent it to the governor who then sent it down to the legislature. We received the plan from the governor and the land use commission, proposing the different zones which included easements,” the senator said.

Senator Pangelinan said the proposal will require approval by the legislature or else it will go into default approval by law.

“If the legislature doesn't object to the proposal, then it becomes approved, but we have the option of holding hearings on it to seek additional comments and that's what I intend to do,” said Pangelinan.

Exaperated

J.R. Mateo, one of the many affected property owners in the area, spoke with Variety last night and expressed his exasperation with the situation.

“The amount of land they want to take from us is a lot,” he said. “Are they going to compensate the families or just take it and give to that Korean company?” Mateo asked in disbelief.

Another matter of concern that he questioned regarded the pace at which the permitting process had moved.

“I thought there was supposed to be some kind of environmental impact study and they first had to check the area for archeological things of significance. I don’t know when they did that if they just got the permit a few months ago,” he asserted. “We are not going to just let them take our land for nothing,” he maintained. (With reports from Romeo Carlos)