Recording - 10-03-2024 21:33:51: Management of cultural lands in Palau

00:02 My name is May Kesolei Today's date is October 3, 2024. I'm speaking with Jason Kesolei who is my husband. We are recording in our house at Airai. Can you please introduce yourself and your background in relation to traditional land in Palau?

00:22 Okay. My name is Jason Kesolei I worked as far as traditional land and understanding of them. I worked with Micronesian Investment and Development Corporation, a Palawan company development company for 16 years. I was the project manager, and then I became vice president. And then after that, I had been the executive director for Palo Public Lands Authority, which is the national office that are the trustees that manages and are trustees for all the public lands of the Republic of Palam. So in all my time when I worked for MID Corp. And then working for the national government, PPLA for the development side, we had encountered a lot of issues as far as land, as far as land is concerned, regarding especially traditional issues, who had the authority to manage this land. And we learned this because as we had been trying to acquire some properties for some developments, we had run into some issues on who was the actual authority. Was it the chief? Was it the whole clan? Was it the women? Who was really the person that had the authority for these properties? So in going through that, we were able to understand some of the traditional system in governing and management of traditional properties that belong to a clan or to a family or that sort. Same thing happened with me when I was with ppla. There were a lot of disputes because there were claims to these public lands that they had to file by the last day of 1988. And so going through all these cases, I was able to meet with a lot of chiefs, women, men, families and children even, that had laid claims to these properties. So I think the big lesson that came out was that these lands, these Palauan lands, are really, really sacred. It had been passed down from generations to generations, from years, years to years, generation, generations. And there's Palawans hold a certain respect for lands. They were very close to lands. So we have names. We have names for lands that belong to clans or to families, and that's how close we are to these properties. So it becomes very personal. So another thing that came about was there were a lot of people that had laid claims to these lands or claim that they had authority, but actually they really didn't know anything about these lands. They just happened to say that, well, because I'm so and so's son or so and so's daughter, that I should be part of this and part of that. So, so, so going through all of that when I was working for the, the private sector to the ppla, I think what would be very beneficial for everyone today and for the children and for everybody and even the schools to participate is to encourage or to have some sort of curriculum to teach, to teach the kids to learn their families, their culture, their families, get their family trees and really figure out where they come from and what being a member of that family really is to you. Because once you really know that, then you will know what your personal responsibilities are to the family and to the land that that come with these families. So for the schools to at least teach, you know, encourage and teach some of the subjects as to. For the kids to really learn their culture and their families and their ties and their tradition would really go a long way to helping them understand their positions and respecting the land and actually preserving some of the traditions and practices that our ancestors have been using to manage these lands until today. Thank you.