Senator Pangelinan has long thought of creative ways of enrolling more natives into the voter rolls, such as using lists from the Department of Revenue and Taxation, the University of Guam and other places where people conduct business and study. The senator should be applauded for it. The argument that most natives are not interested in self-determination just because they are not signing up in droves is a nonstarter.
Most natives and non-natives do not even attend PTA meetings when education is supposedly their No. 1 priority. Sometimes you have to go to them, which is what Senator Pangelinan has been trying to do.
Attendant to this issue is districting. Candidates running for the March 20 special election as well as those who will run in the November regular elections must be asked about their positions on this issue.
There are several good reasons why this should be brought to the fore, regardless of whether it is going to become a reality, much like self-rule.
First, we might be able to eliminate the grandstanding that gubernatorial teams tend to do when they talk about the south.
Every election, they patronize the folks down there, but after they win, they tend to disappear.
Second, the Filipino community is underrepresented in the Legislature and in Adelup despite the fact that they make up a sizable portion of the electorate. There are more of them going through the naturalization process constantly, making them eligible to vote. Since at-large voting cannot seem to get them represented, maybe districting can.
Third, I believe there is a racial element to Guam’s elections, given what transpired in 2002 and 2006, when unscrupulous folks who were desperate for the win, smeared their opposition as “racists.” Then there is a mad dash for the Filipino vote especially up north. Districting can remove this ugliness of the local elections if there are already Filipinos seated in the Legislature and they will join their Chamorro counterparts in pushing for self-determination, (a closer relationship with the United States is what I figure they will move toward to). There is a push, nonetheless.
Lastly, any move toward self-determination should be avoided in this election year as former Gov. Carl T.C. Gutierrez reiterated during a radio interview. He knows that elections are about bringing people together and self-determination under the U.S. flag — whichever way you cut it — is a polarizing issue.
For Senator Pangelinan, who might harbor ambitions of higher office, the self-determination issue might spell election defeat especially since the natives only make up 37 percent of the population. Remember, natives do not support one gubernatorial team, so how are you going to engineer a win?
MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam
