Pull it off and add grease. Make sure it does pivot to keep tension. Also, rotate your crank slightly to see if #1 piston goes up or down. If down, then it's 180° off to TDC, so take that into account if you want to set timing at TDC (you will be off by 180°. Lol

with the auto tensioner off, the tentioner arm wont come off?

Well, if the timing mark lines up it's correct no matter what right?

Yup. Won't rotate or come off. Even gently put a pry bar on there

Correct. If all the timing marks line up, you are good.
As for the tensioner arm, you need to get it free so it can pivot. Is the bolt rusted so bad that it's frozen? Will bolt break if you try to break the bolt loose?

The bolt came off with no trouble but the arm was stuck.Thankfully after some PB blaster and wiggling I was able to get it off. Everything else came off smoothly and after a little break I'll be putting everything back together, with a generous dose of grease on the pivot arm. Any suggestions on type of grease? Is anti-seize not appropriate for this?

They need to line up, and the oil pump driven balance shaft needs to be in phase with the engine.

Oh yes, I forgot. Oil sprocket timing mark has to be in correct phase.

I think any grease will work since it won't be hot like exhaust manifold where I use Never Seize grease.

Looks like you are well on your way to fixing your timing belt problem. Good job catching in time! Most people would have driven until engine stops running after bendind some valves.

Oil pump setup - plus I love this guy's accent.

Yup, knew about the balance shaft phasing. Wanted to make sure about the crank

Well I tend to be on the careful side after spending thousands of dollars and dozens of hours rebuilding the engine :P I'll definitely be rechecking the timing belt tension every oil change from here on out though. I wonder if the fact that I don't have my upper timing cover on (due to 4g64 block) led to the issue with the arm seizing (due to water). Or perhaps I overtorqued the bolt last time or didn't use enough grease, etc.

Yeah, could be, especially if you drove through some salty snow sludge and then left the car unused for awhile. With the arm freed and lubricated, the most important thing is having the belt adjusted to where the grenade pin is free in the tensioner as in the video. That assures plenty of take-up for any belt stretch.