Fitial spoke to Covenant Party members during the meeting of the Blue Ribbon Committee at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan on Saturday evening.
The committee chairman, former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, said the panel is an “independent” group created to negotiate the governor’s return to the Republican Party.
Fitial, in an interview, said he reiterated why Covenant Party members should join the GOP.
“I went back to GOP because I can sense that the national GOP is becoming stronger and we will be relying on the federal government,” he said.
Among the Covenant Party officers who attended the meeting were its second vice president Martin C. Sablan and former first vice president Melvin O. Faisao who resigned from the party a few days ago to join the GOP. Sablan is the secretary of the Department of Public Works while Faisao heads the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.
Fitial said he respects the decision of any member of the Covenant Party.
“I am not forcing anybody in the Covenant Party to join me to merge with the Republican Party but I’m inviting them to come with me. I need that number also. If they don’t want, I will not force them,” he said.
Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos earlier said he would remain with the Covenant Party.
The governor said he wants to see the future CNMI elections to be between the Republican and Democratic parties only.
Former Rep. Joseph N. Camacho, a former Republican who joined the Covenant Party, urged other Covenant members to “find a way to unite because it’s going to be a long fight.”
Camacho is also a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
Rasa claimed that he has 1,122 GOP application forms already filled out and signed by Covenant Party members.
He said he has yet to submit these to the GOP leadership because there are “still a lot of things to address.”
The Blue Ribbon Committee meeting aimed to reconcile differences among the Covenant Party members.
Sablan requested the committee not to push for the merger of the two parties until the Covenant Party’s central committee discusses the idea.
The other members of the Blue Ribbon Committee are Department of Public Lands Secretary Oscar M. Babauta, Dolores San Nicolas, Felix Nogis, Jess Muna, Diego Blanco, Jack M. Manglona, Angie Mangarero, Marianne DLG. Tudela, Alvaro Santos, Isidro Seman, Rita Chong, Gary Camacho, Mike Borja, Viola Alepuyo, Pedro Arriola, Jack Ogumoro, Frank Rabauliman, Joe Limes, Kevin P. Villagomez, Pedro Itibus, Danny Buniag, Ramon C. Mafnas and Thomas J. Camacho.
