M.O.E. Says that B.N.T.U. Does Not Have Lease, Title to the Land
Luke Palacio
According to Palacio, several efforts were made to rectify the situation involving the plot of land but the union was given the turnaround. Palacio says the union will not give up and is calling on teachers to protest the ministry’s action.
On the Phone: Luke Palacio, 1st National Vice President, B.N.T.U.
“While I was the national president we visited both the town council in Corozal and the Ministry of Lands to see what could have been done to try to regularize or rectify whatever the situation was with the parcel of land. And so we are very much concerned because it is the B.N.T.U. that has maintained that land in the cleanliness state that it is in. They have maintained it these many years and no one came to them and said that they will cancel your lease and we are going to use it for this purpose. If there was acquisition that would have been made we were never informed and we are just hoping that this is not another attempt on union like what has happened with the P.S.U. building in Belmopan. As I mentioned earlier a payment plan or a price was suggested for us to rectify this matter but again we were given the push around. Up to now they have not accepted that sum of money and all of a sudden now this is where we end up.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Sir what is the next step from here because from I understand that there has been or will be a ground breaking ceremony for that preschool?”
On the Phone: Luke Palacio
“Well of course we were told that it would have been today. Apparently t here was some postponement; some meeting was probably was called by the powers that be. If they out of that meet that they probably decided that they will continue to have that proposal to have that groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow we are asking our members and other teachers in the area to come out and show their discontent and protest against this action.”
News Five was told by the Ministry that it has identified thirty-five parcels of land for the E.Q.I.P. Project. The parcel in question reportedly appeared as crown land in the system and was acquired by the ministry. The Ministry says that B.N.T.U. has neither lease nor title to the land and thus has no legal ownership over the property.
