Introduced last year by Rep. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, the bill creates a commission that will revisit the Covenant and look at “alternative” political and economic status for the islands.
Most of those who expressed support for the bill spoke in Chamorro.
But Richard Hofschneider of Tinian also spoke in English and said it is time “to go back and analyze where we have been in the last few decades.”
He recalled that he was a sixth grade student when the Covenant was negotiated and the he joined his family in opposing leasing Tinian land to the military.
Now that 30 years have passed, he still wonders what progress the military has brought the island.
It appears to him, he said, that the federal government only remembers the CNMI if there is a national security threat.
When there is none, he added, “they leave us behind.”
But Prosser said the Covenant, which made the islands part of the U.S. and the local people American citizens, provided the NMI with a “fair deal.”
The truth is, he added, the CNMI is in a mess today because of corrupt leaders.
“If you want to end this mess, government officials must work for the people and not for themselves,” Prosser said.
Three surviving members of the Marianas Political Status Commission, which negotiated the Covenant with the U.S., attended the hearing and expressed support for Torres’ bill: Herman Q. Guerrero, Oscar C. Rasa and Vicente T. Camacho.
