Senate President Paul A. Manglona, R-Rota, yesterday said the important thing is that everyone in the CNMI is given an opportunity to express their opinions about the issue.
Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, said his position is that Congress should keep the status quo when it comes to the immigration status of guest workers.
Sen. Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan, said it’s very important that the CNMI government and its people are heard regarding Interior’s recommendation.
“Give us that opportunity,” he said.
Juan I. Tenorio, former Office of Personnel Management director, said he fears that the indigenous people will eventually become “endangered species” in their own homeland.
“We must continue to be mindful that our destiny should not be in the hands of the outsiders,” he told the senators.
House Joint Resolution 17-4, which the House adopted on Tuesday, urges the federal government to hold consultation talks with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial regarding the status of CNMI guest workers.
The version passed by the House removed the claim that Interior “deliberately deceived the indigenous people…by not consulting first with the governor,” and the assertion that the alien population are not blood related to the indigenous people unlike those in the U.S. Virgin Islands who were granted improved status in 1982.
Copies of the resolution will be transmitted to key U.S. lawmakers and federal officials.
On May 18, in Washington, D.C., the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife will conduct an oversight hearing on the implementation of the federalization law.
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, D-Guam, chairs the subcommittee.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is expected to appear before the panel and submit his testimony.
