NEWS

Our government needs to be transparent about proposals that tremendously affect our lives. Too many decisions are made behind closed doors. The Guam Legislature recently unanimously passed bills 12-37 and 13-37 requiring public input into the governor’s proposal for a Guam Medical Campus at Eagles Field in Mangilao on Navy land.

If Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero signs the lease for Eagles Field that was drawn up by the Navy within 30 days of March 15, the government of Guam will pay nothing to lease the 100-plus acre lot on which it is to build a new world-class hospital and medical campus.

Lawmakers are calling for Governor Lou Leon Guerrero to “release the lease” on Eagle’s Field.
The demand from the legislative branch to see the lease comes after a letter from JRM to the Governor was revealed.

Lawmakers had good and bad to say about the governor’s plans to lease land from the military for a new hospital complex, keep taxes on businesses high to fund education and safety, and push for a GovGuam pay raise.

Rear Adm. Benjamin R. Nicholson confirmed at a news briefing on March 16 that the lease from the Department of Defense by the Government of Guam of 112.875 acres at Eagles Field on Rte. 15 in Mangilao is ready for the signature of Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero.

China’s increasing military threat prompted the U.S. military to reassess its land needs on Guam, according to Navy Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson.
He said the military now plans to keep land that in recent years had been considered for possible return to the local government.

The government of Guam was given 30 days from March 15 to sign the lease for the Eagles Field area of Mangilao, or the Department of Defense will instead use that land for other military purposes, according to Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, commander of Joint Region Marianas.

Guam governor Lou Leon Guerrero now has less than 30 days to sign a lease with the US Navy for the use of Eagles Field in Mangilao, to use the Central Guam site to house a 21st Century medical campus. That firm deadline comes after months of negotiations amid outcry from original landowners and the Guam Legislature. KUAM News sat down with the commander of Joint Region Marianas to get some answers.

… One of the last things discussed in the governor's address was the effort to build a medical complex at the Eagles Field area of Mangilao, to include a new hospital.
The governor and Speaker Therese Terlaje, who oversees land and health issues at the legislature, were at odds Wednesday morning over a lease for Eagles Field with the federal government - land which several families claim ancestral ownership.

The economy, tourism, crime and government pay hikes --those were all key topics in Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero's fifth state of the island address Wednesday night.
The speech itself took just over 40 minutes, and she ended it with an update on the controversial medical campus project at Eagles field.

… Whether you are a son or daughter of Guam, or a resident here from a compact state, we cannot build a new prosperity on our island without building a new hospital. I have always been clear on this.
To that end, I will sign a long-term lease with the federal government siting the Guam Medical Campus at the old Eagles Field.

The already heated rhetoric behind plans to build a new medical complex at the Eagles Field area of Mangilao continues to escalate as Speaker Therese Terlaje compared Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to naval governors of old – someone who is acting unilaterally – over information that a lease on the property would be signed Wednesday afternoon.