Governor hopes new legislature will prioritize new GMH; calls out Terlaje and Barnett as obstructionists

If it were not for obstructions by Therese Terlaje and Chris Barnett, the governor argued this week, construction of a new hospital already would be underway. Now, Lou Leon Guerrero said in a response to Kandit’s questions to her about the matter, the people’s best hope for progress is a new legislature able to withstand obstructions by Ms. Terlaje and Mr. Barnett.

Mr. Barnett snapped back, saying the governor is being dishonest and insinuating there are ulterior motives behind Ms. Leon Guerrero’s push for building the hospital on the back road to Andersen Air Force Base (Route 15 Mangilao to Yigo).

Ms. Terlaje did not respond to the governor’s comments.

“Construction on a new medical complex could have already been underway if not for the actions of Speaker Terlaje, who is the oversight chairperson for health, and Senator Barnett, both of whom say we need a new hospital but have not supported any of our administration’s efforts to do so,” Ms. Leon Guerrero told Kandit. “Instead, they have blocked the no-cost lease of Eagles Field from the federal government.”

Mr. Barnett argued that the reason senators could not authorize the governor to build the hospital along Route 15 is because she has failed to answer critical questions about the proposed sites. The back and forth between the governor and certain senators has been ongoing throughout the entirety of the current 37th Guam Legislature, which ends this coming January and will be replaced by the 38th Guam Legislature, which will be elected on November 5.

“It’s disheartening that the longstanding tradition of dishonesty in politics has made telling lies seem like an acceptable tactic in political dealings,” Mr. Barnett said, adding, “Once again, we find ourselves in a situation where the governor and her team play hide-the-ball with crucial decision-making information about the location and plans to build a new hospital. Despite stating that the new hospital will definitely be in ‘Mangilao, for sure,’ the governor and her team have failed to provide details on the $10 million land acquisition deal she tasked the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority with in May of this year. Based on their statements, it’s evident that the governor and her team have been involved in some part of the land acquisition process. Naturally, I have some questions that need answers:

1. Who are the property owners?
2. What is the proposed acquisition cost for the government of Guam in relation to these properties?
3. Are the properties situated within a flood zone?
4. Are there any sinkholes present on any of the properties?
5. Are the properties being acquired at their assessed value as indicated in the most recent Department of Revenue and Taxation Real Property Tax Assessment Roll, or is the government contemplating purchasing the proposed properties at the asking price?”

Administration officials, however, have addressed the innuendo and accusations of ulterior motives beneficial to the governor or her family and supporters, saying such claims are false and ridiculous. Throughout the jockey by both sides, senators have been treated to thousands of pages and hundreds of hours of evidence and testimony and answers to their questions illustrating the pros and cons of building a hospital at either Ypao Point (where the old hospital was located), Eagle’s Field, or further up Route 15. Senators ended up voting to authorize the Ypao site by a slim majority of only eight of the 15 members. That authorization died, when Governor Leon Guerrero vetoed that bill and senators failed to muster the 10 votes needed to override her veto.

The governor continued her criticism of the legislature’s two most powerful members, “Rather than seizing this vital opportunity, they misled fellow lawmakers and the public by suggesting that original landowners would regain their property if the lease was rejected—an assertion that was proven false when the Department of Defense (DoD) publicly confirmed that because Guam leaders declined to use the property for a hospital, the land would be allocated for other federal purposes. Now, instead of advancing critical healthcare infrastructure for our island, we are left with unnecessary delays and the urgent task of finding an alternative path forward.”

Finding that path forward has been unnecessary, Mr. Barnett contends, as the Ypao Point location provides what the island needs for a new hospital.

“Right from the start, the governor vehemently opposed the construction of the new hospital at the abandoned Ypao Point site, citing a range of reasons from an infestation of little fire ants to congested parking and a fault line as significant as the San Andreas Fault in California. However, despite the governor’s objections, a measure (Bill 185-37) was passed by eight members of the Guam Legislature, making the construction of a new hospital more feasible and financially responsible. Instead of signing the measure into law and commencing construction, the governor vetoed it and shifted the blame for the delay onto others,” Mr. Barnett said.

But his Republican colleague, Tom Fisher, said that both Mr. Barnett and Ms. Terlaje have been deceiving the public in order to advance their personal and political agendas. The two top senators are rumored to be candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in 2026, when they possibly will challenge Joshua Tenorio in the Democratic primary election.

“The governor is correct,” Mr. Fisher said. “Both Speaker Terlaje and Senator Barnett misled the 37th Guam Legislature and did so in two ways. They said the legislature had not been briefed on the proposed Eagle’s Field project and that the original landowners would get the land back if the hospital were constructed elsewhere. The assertions were intentional and designed to deceive. Neither was true, and they have sacrificed the health care of the island to advance personal, political agendas. Senators Terlaje and Barnett are not serious lawmakers expect where it meets their aspirations for higher office.”

The inability of the legislature’s 15 members to decide a suitable hospital location has stymied any progress on the gubernatorial effort to replace GMH with a new facility that goes back nearly a decade ago to former Governor Eddie Calvo’s hospital modernization push. For the past decade, it has been the legislature that has stood in the way of any forward movement proposed by either Republican Calvo, or Democrat Leon Guerrero.

“We continue to explore potential locations for the new medical campus, aiming to make healthcare more accessible to a larger portion of our community,” Ms. Leon Guerrero said. “We cannot continue to force the growing medical needs of our island into the already overcrowded Ypao Point lot. We remain hopeful that the new Legislature will prioritize the needs of the people over political maneuvering.”