The Perish of the Pride of Piti at the hands of Dan Tydingco and GTA
The Dan Tydingco Land Scam series: A special investigative report
Guam's Legislature gives away prime land to political cronies for pennies on the dollar
By Jacob Nakamura
(Hagatna, Guam) In the sleepy quiet southern village of Piti, the kids don’t have many outdoor recreational options.
Unlike most villages, they don’t have a village gymnasium to gather and play sports. They only have a broken down baseball field and their outdoor basketball court.
Their only village basketball court no longer exists as it has been bulldozed over by GTA and it was all orchestrated by GTA executive Dan Tydingco.
Late last year Dan Tydingco, GTA Executive Vice President for government, regulatory and legal affairs, worked secretly with Piti Mayor Jesse Alig to acquire the property the village basketball court sits on for GTA. Tydingco and Alig worked with Tydingco’s former boss, Senator Tom Ada, to get the bill introduced on November 13, 2018.
The following is the timeline of this legislation that was introduced and passed in record time:
Nov 13, 2018 – Bill Introduced by Tom Ada
November 20, 2018 – Bill referred to Tom Ada’s Committee
November 30, 2018 – Tom Ada schedules public hearing for December 10, 2018
December 5, 2018 – Piti Municipal Planning Council approves resolution backing bill
December 10, 2018 – Public Hearing
December 12, 2018 – Committee report circulated
December 19, 2018 – passed by legislature
December 21, 2018 – signed by Eddie Calvo
For some reason, Dan Tydingco and GTA did not feel the children of Piti were important enough to replace the basketball court prior to bulldozing the only one they have.
GTA pretends to care about the community, but maybe they only care about the members of the community who are related to Dan Tydingco’ wife. Why? Because while the children of Piti have suffered without access to their only basketball court, Mr. Tydingco and GTA made sure to make a huge donation to a sports organization of which Tydingco’s wife Lory is an active member and organizer.
The kids of Piti, many of whom fall below the national poverty level, were ignored and their basketball court bulldozed and then Tydingco and GTA donated $100,000 to the Guam Tennis Federation for a brand-new state-of-the-art facility. Tydingco’s wife Lory Tydingco is a long-time member and a player of the older women’s federation tennis team.
In a GTA press release announcing their $100,000 donation to the tennis federation, GTA Client Relations Executive Laura Cepeda said “GTA is a proactive advocate for all youth development and environmental efforts. We are proud to partake in a larger community effort to provide the adequate resources needed to develop the skills for the sport and push the limits of competition.” She noted that the GTA $100,000 donation will help provide the facility with the latest technology, from cushioned courts to LED lighting to eco-friendly equipment. Meanwhile, the Tennis Federation will still have their current facility which means the $100,000 GTA donation is for a second, additional facility for their tennis players including Dan Tydingco’s wife.
Meanwhile, in Piti, the underprivileged kids still have nothing.
“I am mad that the mayor did not get our input but I am also mad that GTA doesn’t even care about our kids. How hard would that have been for them to lay down a concrete slab and put our fences and basketball posts back up in another location?” one Piti father told Kandit News. He wished to remain anonymous because their village is small and he claims the mayor may retaliate. When we informed the father that GTA instead donated $100,000 to the Tennis Federation of which Tydingco’s wife Lory Tydingco is a member, the father became enraged. “That’s complete bull*#it.”
Instead of spending a few thousand dollars to put an outside basketball court up in the village, GTA decided to focus on the wealthy members of the Tennis Federation instead of the at-risk youth of Piti. There have been va