CARMEN T. Cabrera Pangelinan on Thursday filed her candidacy for the nonpartisan Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council, which has three seats.
She is the youngest of the 13 children of local entrepreneur, the late Escolastica Borja Tudela Cabrera, the first female member of the Saipan council. Her father is Gregorio Camacho Cabrera.
Carmen is also the wife of the late Joaquin “Mitch” Pangelinan, the second speaker of the CNMI House of Representatives.
In an interview, Carmen said she thought about running for the council two years ago, but felt that she wasn’t ready yet.
This year, she said, “I feel I am ready. I love to reach out to the community. I want to go to the villages. I have a plan that I like to implement.”
In her younger days, Carmen said her parents would always bring her with them to political rallies. Back then, she said, “I wished one day, I’d be ready to serve the community.”
Carmen said she always looked up to her mother, Escolastica. “She got me involved in the business when I was 9 years old. I did help her a lot and I had to be very obedient because I am the youngest, the 13th child.”
Carmen said in her younger years she enjoyed getting involved in politics “because I saw it as a future for me — that one day, once I felt I was ready, that I would come in.”
Carmen would like to thank those who are supporting her candidacy. “I want to thank them — they worked so hard, they volunteered and I just want to give them my utmost appreciation, my gratitude,” she said.
If elected, “I am not going to concentrate in only one area. There are things that have not been touched and there are things that I want to look into. It will involve beautification with village cleanups and there are other things where we can get our youths involved.”
She added, “One of my priorities is to visit the youth centers and get to know what is going on in their villages, where I can come into and help, especially for the safety of our children, the youth. I want to make sure that I am there to reach out and help in the villages.”
Besides Carmen, there are two other candidates for the Saipan council: former Saipan Mayor Marianne DLG Tudela and Joseph M. Mendiola.
Incumbent council member Ana Demapan Castro is running for a Precinct 3 House seat.
The other incumbent municipal council members are its chairman, Danny Aquino, and Antonia M. Tudela.
Joining Carmen T. Cabrera Pangelinan, third left, at the Commonwealth Election Commission on Thursday are former Gov. Carlos S. Camacho, right, and wife, Winnie. Also in photo are Cabrera’s grandson Ramon Garido Villagomez III, daughter and committee-to-elect chair Brenna C. Villagomez, Carmen’s sister, Olinka Cabrera, daughter Tomiko Pangelinan who is carrying her niece Adaline Villagomez, and Carmen’s nephew Isamu.
