By Zaldy Dandan – Variety Editor
IN 1985, the local economy was growing, as indicated by the number of pages our Friday edition carried back then — 40 or 44. There were plenty of ads, including those for new businesses and job vacancies. But as is the case today, most of the news stories were about things that will apparently always be with us, one way or another: crime, politics, economic concerns, healthcare, and cultural and historical issues.
On the front page of our Dec. 6 issue, it was reported that three local youths were accused of armed robbery. They were charged with eight counts of robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and illegal possession of firearms. Police said the defendants, wielding a “sawed-off .410-gauge shotgun,” robbed a Japanese tourist of $120 in cash in Marpi. In the same area, they also robbed a Korean man of $140.
Saipan had a new hospital — the Commonwealth Health Center — but patients who would be treated there “may have to pay higher fees than those charged at the Dr. Torres Hospital” (now NMC). Moreover, the “cost of medical referrals, projected to reach $400,000 [about $1.2 million today] in fiscal year 1986, will not go down even when the new facility starts operating. The government has to subsidize health care in the Northern Marianas for many, many years to come.” These observations came from Larry Moen, financial officer of the Department of Public Health and Environmental Services.
Moen also said there was a need “to change the basic concept that health care is free,” while ensuring that people who not eligible for free care could still receive health services.
He further noted that the health department “will introduce more mathematics and science subjects in high schools to help prepare students for hospital jobs.” The government, he said, “may also adopt a program to finance training of students in medical institutions abroad.”
Also in the news, a visiting couple from Spain — academic researchers — told Variety that Chamorro, “as currently spoken in Guam and the Northern Marianas, is about 55 to 60 percent Spanish,” and that a greater share of the younger generation in the CNMI speaks Chamorro compared with youths in Guam. The couple were completing a study on the extent of Spanish influence in the Mariana Islands. They conducted 10-hour interviews lasting two days or more with 34 respondents in Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan, and gathered information from census reports and other documents.
They said that, based on the 10,000 words listed in the Chamorro-English dictionary by Topping, Ogo, and Dungca, the Chamorro language contained about 5,000 to 6,000 Spanish words, including those related to food and the human body. “Considering that many other words are not listed in the dictionary, the average percentage of Spanish words in the language could reach up to 70 percent.” Chamorro, they said, “is a living language and should be allowed to grow.”
Variety also carried an Associated Press story reporting that more than “27 million Japanese, or 22.5 percent of the population, will travel during the coming holidays,” thanks to a stronger yen and a rise in leisure travel. Those travelers were expected to spend a total of $6.7 billion (about $18.3 billion today) on transportation, lodging, gifts, and other expenses.
On the editorial page, a cartoon depicted imported Japanese cars as Japanese aircraft poised to bomb Pearl Harbor.
1985 was also a general election year, and a runoff election had to be scheduled for the District 1 (San Antonio and San Vicente) House seat after the two opposing candidates each received 664 votes.
On the front page of MV’s Dec. 13, 1985 issue, the CNMI’s representative to Washington, D.C., Froilan C. Tenorio, sought U.S. congressional approval of a seven-year, $228 million (about $896 million today) financial aid package for the six-year-old Commonwealth. Froilan, however, cautioned that the islands’ most serious development problems could not be solved “by throwing money at them.” He called instead for economic development initiatives that would not cost the federal government a single cent while allowing the CNMI to “realize its full potential in fisheries and light manufacturing.”
Those proposals included duty-free entry of textiles and textile products into the U.S. market and an exemption from coverage under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. In short, local growth over federal aid.
By 1997, as governor, Froilan was no less blunt. “This is the thing,” he said in an interview. “I just have to tell the people, look — if you want me to provide the services you expect from the government, then you’d better favor economic development.”
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Zaldy Dandan is the recipient of the NMI Society of Professional Journalists’ Best in Editorial Writing Award and the NMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. His four books are available on amazon.com/.
