In an interview on Monday, Ike Cabrera, chairman of the Friends of the Monument, said 75 percent of the people who signed the petition to support the proposal are indigenous people of the CNMI.
Cabrera, a former director of the Division of Environmental Quality, said they collected over 5,500 signatures in support of the proposal.
He denied that they misinformed the people about the proposal to designate the waters surrounding the northern islands of Maug, Uracas and Asuncion as a national marine monument.
He said all they wanted to do was to educate the public about the issue.
They were dismayed, however, when the Legislature adopted a resolution opposing the creation of the marine monument, Cabrera said.
He noted that only Reps. Heinz S. Hofschneider, R-Saipan, Tina Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, and Edward T. Salas, R-Saipan, voted against the resolution.
“We don’t want any division in the community,” Cabrera said.
But he added that since many local people are willing to speak out, it shows how important the proposal is for the future of the CNMI.
“We want [the newspaper] advertisement [last Monday] to demonstrate to the visiting federal officials the enormous public support there is for the proposed Mariana Trench Marine Monument,” he added.
Friends of the Monument vice chairwoman Agnes M. McPhetres, a former president of Northern Marianas College, said the signatures on the petition were gathered over the past four months by more than 60 volunteers.
“It’s been a real grassroots effort by many people,” she said.
