By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

A VISITING official from Washington, D.C. yesterday disclosed that the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee may hear testimony about labor and immigration violations committed against CNMI alien workers, particularly women.
The committee has a set a hearing for Feb. 8 on CNMI labor and immigration policies.
Rudy Pamintuan, chairman of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, is on island to help the CNMI government prepare for the hearing.
“It is my understanding that during the hearing, there will be workers who will speak against the CNMI…and from a key strategic standpoint it’s good to have someone oppose or counter that testimony,” he told Variety.
Pamintuan, who is president of his own Chicago, Illinois-based public policy and media strategy firm, Sherman Consulting Inc., met with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and other CNMI elected officials on Monday.
“If the other side is bringing a handful of victims to speak against the CNMI…and it is not opposed (then the) CNMI is in losing proposition,” he said.
Seven years ago, the Republican-led Senate unanimously passed legislation to extend federal immigration laws to the islands, a move which was also supported by the then-Clinton White House. The bill, however, was blocked in the U.S. House of Representatives by then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Tx.
Both houses of Congress are now run by Democrats who support the federalization of CNMI labor and immigration policies. But the White House will remain in Republican hands until Jan. 2009, and some national GOP leaders are believed to be sympathetic to CNMI officials, many of whom helped raise funds for the Bush-Cheney campaigns in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Pamintuan said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, have painted the CNMI in a “very negative light.”
“Their issue is women’s rights and the only way to counter that is let women testify in the hearing that the CNMI is not an island filled with prostitutes but an island that embraces tourism and encourages families to visit,” Pamintuan said.
He added, “In D.C., because many individuals don’t have enough information about the CNMI, they believe that the islands are filled with mostly prostitutes based on a handful of isolated stories that were taken as truth. They have no time to visit the islands and see what things are really like here.”
Pamintuan said he came to the CNMI on his personal initiative to advise the CNMI government on how Congress and Washington work and who is “friendly” and who “adversarial” toward the commonwealth.
“CNMI concerns in Washington are critical issues and it seems that the new majority is singling out these islands,” he said. “I know that there should be wage increases as time progresses, but the rational here is the increase should be based on economic and not on political motivations.”
To double the cost of doing business overnight would have an immediate impact on local businesses, particularly small businesses like stores and restaurants, he said.
Pamintuan said many U.S. lawmakers also believe that the CNMI is not looking for other economic opportunities and is unwilling to compete in the world economy.
He said the administration should send a “full-force delegation” — elected officials, community members, private sector representatives — to speak about the “true situation” in the CNMI.
“This is a very unique and special time for the CNMI. The community needs to participate with their elected officials in getting their voices heard on these important concerns,” he said.
According to Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr., CNMI government officials and local business leaders will attend the hearing and submit testimony.
But he said he did not know if women alien workers would be included in the CNMI delegation.