MANY motorists early Tuesday morning found that the road to B&R Auto Repair Shop (Loughal Point) at the corner of Beach Road in Chalan Laulau had been blocked by a landowner who claims that her family has not been compensated for the land taken by the CNMI government.
Responding Department of Public Safety police officers had to direct traffic in the area.
Rep. Denita Yangetmai and Speaker Edmund Villagomez were also seen talking to the landowner but both lawmakers declined to make a statement.
The landowner, Cecilia Teregeyo Lisua, told Variety that she blocked the road because her family had not been compensated and was tired of getting the “runaround.”
“I have been working on this since 2004. In 2018 before I had to undergo cancer treatment, I was still working on it.
“I went up there to the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Public Lands, and they said ‘We are working on it, we will help you,’” Lisua said.
“When I came back from my treatment, still no action. I closed the road because I am tired of this runaround.”
Lisua said DPL and the AG’s office were “pointing at each other on who is responsible.”
A Department of Public Works case worker talked to Lisua on Tuesday, and told her that he only needs a map of the property to process the land compensation claim.
It was the case worker, Ken Aldan, who persuaded Lisua to remove the barricade on the road.
Two DPL officials also met with Lisua and told her the same thing.
“This is my mom’s property and they took the road,” she said. “Now that I blocked the road, they now tell me that they only need a property map.”
Lisua said she has the following message for Gov. Ralph DLG Torres:
“Governor Torres be considerate, treat people equally, we are human beings, stop the discrimination.”
Lisua said three months ago “they certified it so how come the compensation has not been released? The land compensation funds are already set aside, so where are they?”
She said she is expecting $108,000 in land compensation for the property.
Cecilia Teregeyo Lisua, in green shirt holding an umbrella, looks at a sedan that wants to pass through the road she has blocked on Tuesday morning. Also in photo are Police Capt. Anthony Macaranas, left, Rep. Denita Yangetmai, 2nd right, and a relative of Lisua, right, holding a machete which he was using to trim overgrown vegetation in the area.
