(a) The responsibility of the government of Guam to enforce rights in private property, as a civil right, pursuant to the laws of the United States of America applicable to Guam and the Laws of Guam is hereby acknowledged and reaffirmed. The responsibility of the government of Guam to also enforce the entire community’s rights in public property, as common property, is also hereby acknowledged and reaffirmed.

(b) The government of Guam expects to eventually accept transfer of the ownership of lands to be disposed under ‘The Guam Excess Lands Act’ through the U. S. General Services Agency and as a result of decisions in 1993 and 1995 issued by the U.S. Base Realignment and Closure Commission, subject to certain specified encumbrances, including un-relinquished property rights retained either by the United States of America or other prior owners, with applicable judicial procedures available should disputes arise. However, it is recognized that a process does not now exist to recognize the ancestral land rights of landowners whose properties have not been declared surplus and may not ever be declared surplus by the military in the future. Likewise, the process established by Guam Public Law Number 22-145 for disposal of three thousand two hundred (3,200) acres of Guam excess lands does not apply to claimants whose claims are attached to excess land elsewhere.

(c) I Liheslaturan Guåhan recognizes that the rights of landowners to full use and enjoyment of their private property was long deprived because of unsettled issues described in the foregoing
§ 80103 of this Chapter. Therefore, to restore the rights of

COL9192018

21 Guam Code Ann. REAL PROPERTY
CH. 80 GUAM ANCESTRAL LANDS COMMISSION

landowners to the use of their ancestral lands, I Liheslaturan Guåhan through this Chapter hereby affirms and formally recognizes the ‘Ancestral Property Right’; establishes an administrative process for the exercise of that right; and creates the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission and authorizes the Commission to administer the provisions of this Chapter in order that original landowners, their heirs and their descendants may expeditiously exercise all their fundamental civil rights in the property they own. The exercise of ‘ancestral property right’ claims shall be applicable to lands already declared excess by the Federal government and shall also be applicable to all future declaration of excess lands either by the United States Government or by the government of Guam.

SOURCE: Added by P.L. 25-045:3 (June 9, 1999).