MS. Tina Sablan’s manifesto is indeed very intriguing and deserves much praise and veneration for her fearlessness and her honesty. I admire her outspokenness and count her as an intelligent and reasonable, young woman. I can see why some citizens of the commonwealth are already willing to give her their vote if she were to ever run for office. However, before I give Miss Sablan my vote, I have a few issues she mentioned that have left me feeling unsettled these past few days.
Among her many rhetorical questions, I was struck by this one: “Should $100,000 be spent on the Youth Congress, essentially training our young people to perpetuate the problems of wasteful government spending?”
Contrary to your negative sentiments about this esteemed body of young leaders, the CNMI Youth Congress has been and continues to be an integral part of our community. I am not defending the Youth Congress simply because I happen to be a former senator who served two terms in this body. I am defending the Youth Congress from my direct experience.
During my tenure, I experienced some of the filthiness that goes on in our other two legislative bodies, but that still doesn’t change the fact that it was one heck of a learning process that greatly helped to mold me into who I am today. No matter what I dealt with in the Youth Congress, whether it be the backstabbing or the comprising, I will always count my two years there as two of the best years of my life. I wouldn’t be the Roselle Calvo I am today had it not been for my Youth Congress experience.
Sure, it’s not perfect. I’ll give you that. But let me tell you something you have yet to realize, Miss Sablan. The Youth Congress does in fact have a positive and profound impact on our youth and our community as a whole.
When the youth of the commonwealth needed a voice in our community, who was there? The Youth Congress. When the youth of the commonwealth needed an organized event (the annual youth summit) where they could individually voice their own opinions on our islands’ issues and concerns, who made it happen? The Youth Congress. When the youth of the commonwealth needed extra assistance to improve their SAT scores, who made it happen? The Youth Congress. When the youth of the commonwealth needed help with improving their reading skills, who made it happen? The Youth Congress.
When the Division of Youth Affairs needs assistance with Family Fun Day and Big Truck Day, who is always there? The Youth Congress. When DEQ needs assistance at their events, who is always there? The Youth Congress.
Most importantly, when tomorrow comes and we will need qualified and well-trained leaders to represent us, who will be there? The Youth Congress.
The Angel Demapans, the Luis John Castros, the Roman Palacioses, etc. THEY WILL BE THERE.
Unlike your other points, your claims as to the Youth Congress being among our government’s list of wasteful investments seems to be way off target, from your comment in regards to its productivity to the budget figures you cited. The commonwealth is not spending $100,000 on the Youth Congress office. The Youth Congress runs on a low budget of only $88,183. Perhaps, it was running on a $100,000 budget in the past, but that certainly is not the case right now.
I will say though, that if $100,000 is what it takes to ensure that the CNMI’s leaders of tomorrow are prepared for the challenge that lies ahead of them, then, by all means, we should be willing to foot the bill. If our leaders of tomorrow are not prepared to climb the mountains of problems our leaders of today continue to build or are not prepared to dig the commonwealth out of her deep trenches of debt, then we certainly cannot expect tomorrow to be any better than today.
I completely agree with you that our government has made an overwhelming list of mistakes throughout our history. But I cannot sit back and allow you to say that the Youth Congress was one of them. If anything, it was one of their greatest accomplishments.

ROSELLE D. CALVO
New York, NY