MANY events facing the CNMI require all of our citizens to take a serious look at the current status of the islands.
During the TT times, the mandate of the United Nations dealing with Micronesia’s Trust Territory status was for the U.S. to assist and develop these islands into a self-governing area, complete with a self-sufficient economy. As a result, Micronesia came under the TT administration but the targets within that agreement have never been fully realized.
Micronesia became dependent on, rather than independent of, U.S. assistance. Indeed, the results of the TT termination showed that Micronesia had still not achieved any significant degree of “self-reliance.”
When the commonwealth status was negotiated, one of the key targets was to have the indigenous people of the Northern Marianas conduct their affairs by themselves, so that the target of self-governance could be realistically achieved. Some believe the immigration and foreign labor privileges were explicitly transitional. Presumably, the CNMI should have reached those key targets within the specified time period. But others believe those same privileges were intended to be conditional upon the CNMI reaching a state of self-sustaining government and economy.
It seems evident the CNMI has not still reached those targets and continues to struggle with the same problems as a result. From an economic level, the CNMI government continues to deal on a daily basis over macro- and micro- questions.
So will federal control of those vital privileges — immigration and foreign labor — relieve the CNMI of the constant struggles to achieve self-sustaining government and economy? If so, will the means to do that or the tools to accomplish that be placed in the hands of those intended to carry it out — i.e., the indigenous people?
If the answers are “yes,” then we are on the right path. If not, however, we may all need to re-evaluate things. Perhaps, as others believe, we should all push for strict interpretation and enforcement of the Covenant for the specific class of persons it was intended to benefit. Indeed, the underlying purpose of the Covenant was to (and still is to) protect the welfare of the indigenous people of the Northern Mariana Islands.

ANTONIO M. ATALIG
Papago, Saipan