By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Judith Guthertz, D-Mangilao, has “regretfully” withdrawn her membership on the Commission on Decolonization because she is not qualified to serve on the panel.
Guthertz, who was selected by minority senators as their representative to the commission, said she took the initiative to step aside after discovering a provision in the law which restricts membership on the panel to indigenous Chamorro voters.
Under the controversial statute, commonly known as the “Chamorro-only vote” law, only “native inhabitants of Guam” are eligible to vote on the plebiscite for self-determination.
“In the course of doing research, I found that impediment. I discussed this matter with my colleagues and we realized there was no way to get around that,” Guthertz said.
The freshman senator submitted her notice of withdrawal from the commission to Minority Leader Judi Won Pat, D-Malojloj.
“When I was selected to represent the minority senators on the commission, I was excited. My goal was to jumpstart the self-determination process,” Guthertz told Variety.
The Decolonization Commission was created by the 25th Legislature to carry out the self-determination plebiscite, in which “eligible” Chamorro voters are to decide on Guam’s political status based on three options: statehood, free association and independence. The plebiscite has been postponed indefinitely pending completion of a registry of eligible voters.
Critics describe the ancestry-based law as “discriminatory” and “unconstitutional.”
Guthertz came to Guam in 1947 when she was three months old. Her father, Harry Guthertz, an Israeli-American, and mother, Josette, an Italian-American, were from San Francisco and came to Guam after the war to start up a small business.
Guthertz studied in the Philippines but has lived on Guam all her life. She is a retired professor and dean of the University of Guam’s Business and Public Administration.
Having been raised on Guam, Guthertz said she understands the island’s history and supports its quest for self-rule. “The Chamorro people were never given the right to decide their political status,” she said.
She said she is disappointed that Gov. Felix P. Camacho and Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, have not shown an interest in pursuing the self-determination process.
Guthertz said her withdrawal from the commission “will not hamper my drive for the Chamorro self-determination process to occur.”
“On the contrary,” she stated in a letter to Won Pat, “it only renews and heightens my dedication to the cause. My passion has always been for the indigenous right of self-determination and I will continue to provide support to its goals.”
Democratic senators have yet to name a new representative to the commission.