By Jude O. Marfil
For Variety

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For nine years, Tony Babauta has been a witness to the various problems facing the U.S. insular areas, including the CNMI.
But working in a Republican-controlled Congress, there was nothing much he could do. Babauta was aligned with the Democratic members of the House Resources Committee.
But last November U.S. voters wanted change and decided to give the Democrats majorities in both houses of Congress.
People in the CNMI will remember Babauta for these words: “I am a Chamorro. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Because of time constraints, the people in the Northern Marianas barely had a glimpse of this “island boy” from Guam when he visited the CNMI for less than 12 hours two weeks ago.
Babauta, along with House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs legal counsel Brian Modeste, legislative director Jed Bullock and Rich Stanton broke away from a congressional delegation visiting Guam to meet with CNMI government officials, lawmakers and key industry players on Saipan.
Babauta is the staff director of the subcommittee, which was reinstituted in January this year after the then-Republican leadership abolished it in 1997.
As a staff director, Babauta is responsible for advising Chairwoman Donna M. Christensen, D-Virgin Islands, on issues concerning the territories including the CNMI. He is tasked to draft policies that will address problems within the subcommittee’s jurisdiction.
“I feel this great sense of responsibility…being able to control the (subcommittee’s) agenda and having a subcommittee to move that agenda forward. There’s this hope within me to make a difference on territories. They are suffering economically,” Babauta said in an interview at his office here in the nation’s capital.
Given the scope of his new role in Congress, Babauta said he feels fortunate about being a Chamorro because he can give congressmen a more realistic picture of the insular areas.
“It helps to have somebody from the territories because you have a different viewpoint from somebody who’s lived there… who better understands what life is like in the territory,” Babauta said.
Babauta was born and raised on Guam. As a teenager, he visited Saipan as “a reward” from a priest, because as an altar boy, “I had served the most (number of) Masses” at Mt. Carmel.
His political career began when we worked for Guam Sen. Elizabeth Arriola and later for Madeleine Z. Bordallo when she was still a Guam senator.
In 1998, Babauta moved to Capitol Hill as a member of then Guam Congressman Robert Underwood’s staff. A year and a half later, he became a staffer for the minority bloc members of the House Resources Committee.
He carried on with his job when Rep. Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia became the ranking member.
Thoughts on the CNMI
“It’s a complicated impression because there was a short time (between his April and 2004 visits to the CNMI). I have been talking to people there. There’s been a change in ways they have described the situation. I think it’s right to say that ( the CNMI) is facing desperate times,” Babauta said.
He added, “Congress has very serious concerns dating back to the 1990s — the influx of non-resident workers and the repeated allegations of abuse — those concerns have always been there. Those need to be addressed. There is a continuing concern about the CNMI’s ports of entry and the U.S. border in the west Pacific given the military presence that’s already on Guam and given the importance of the (Pacific) region militarily.”
As such, Babauta said the subcommittee “is looking forward to working with (the CNMI government).”
“(Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s) position has been clear. His position with immigration has been clear. But there are matters we will disagree on and matters where we just have to seek a middle ground,” he said.