By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

IT is misleading — I’m probably in a good mood; otherwise I would have said moronic — to say that the proposed federalization of local immigration would “eliminate the nonresident population.” Previous bills introduced by Congressman George Miller, D-Calif., and then-Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Ak., would have allowed qualified nonresident workers here to apply for permanent U.S. residency status. There was never a proposal to send home alien workers, although if once granted “green cards” they would cease to be “aliens” and, voila! (pronounced “wala”), “no more” alien workforce. So, technically, they would have been “eliminated.” Which sounds so much like the local garment industry’s valiant claim that it no longer labels its products “Made in USA” — because the labels now say “Made in USA (Northern Marianas).”
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One of our letter writers indicated that Filipino workers here opposed to Dekada are comparable to the Makapili. This is like calling someone in the U.S. a “Benedict Arnold.”
A Filipino word for “to choose,” Makapili is an acronym that stands for Kalipunang Makabayan ng mga Pilipino — the Patriotic League of Filipinos. There is this misconception — the post-war Filipino movies are mostly to blame for it — that the Makapili members were those who wear “bayong,” or bags made from coconut leaves and other native materials, while informing the Japanese imperial army who among their Filipino compatriots were guerillas or guerilla sympathizers.
Actually the Makapili was formed in mid-1944, just a few months before General MacArthur’s epic return (to “the land that I have known so well and amongst these people that I have loved so well”), and its core members were pre-war anti-American, pro-independence militants and activists like revolutionary Gen. Artemio Ricarte who had refused to swear allegiance to the U.S. They sincerely believed that collaboration with an Asian power, Japan, was preferable to continued Western domination of the Philippines. Makapili, however, also attracted opportunists and criminals who joined to seek personal gain, and this further tarnished the organization’s name.
In any case, I find it, um, amusing that some Filipinos who want to be U.S. green card holders and eventually U.S. citizens now call their compatriots “Makapili” — i.e., “traitors” — for not joining them in their, uh, very patriotic efforts.
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Why is American Samoa exempted from the looming federal wage hike?
Simple. Because it doesn’t have the same labor and immigration problems that the CNMI has become notorious for since the late 1980s.
True, American Samoa also allowed a garment factory to bring in alien workers (from Vietnam), but after a class action suit was filed by the abused workers, which was widely publicized in the U.S. media, then-Gov. Tauese Sunia proclaimed in early 2001 that he would not allow any more special immigration exceptions for garment factories. “I simply do not believe that garment factories, supported by an expatriate workforce, have a place in the economic development of American Samoa,” he said. Noting the CNMI’s sullied reputation, the governor blamed the garment industry for unfairly tarnishing the image of the territory, its people and its government. “[U]nfortunately, no level of public relations efforts can remove the stigma which now taints us,” he said. Sunia later said that “as long as the garment factory hires local Samoans, they are welcome in the territory.” He was commenting on a New York-based garment company’s proposal to establish a factory in American Samoa. The company wanted to bring in 250-300 alien workers, but Sunia said even 50 alien workers were “too many.” He died in March 2003 while on a flight to Hawaii for medical treatment. He was 61.
The major sources of income in American Samoa remain the tuna canneries, the local government and remittances from Samoans overseas. The majority of the “alien” workers employed by the canneries are from neighboring Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa. It’s as if Guam were “importing” Chamolinian workers from the CNMI.
Like the CNMI, in short, American Samoa is also exempted from federal minimum wage and immigration laws, but unlike this commonwealth, the territory never used the same privilege — and I’m being polite here — in a manner that will eventually require federal intervention.

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