GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Monday signed into law House Bill 22-28 to rename the Center for Living Independently in the CNMI in honor of the late Lydia Duenas Igitol, an educator and independent living advocate.
Co-sponsored by Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, and Reps. Vicente Camacho, Richard Lizama and Denita Yangetmai, H.B. 22-28 is now Public Law 22-9.
It recognizes Igitol’s advocacy, through which the Center for Living Independently in the CNMI “has helped and assisted countless people with disabilities including students” in the Northern Marianas.
Igitol’s legacy, the new law states, “has left a profound impact in the Commonwealth.”
A graduate of the University of Guam with a degree in public administration with an emphasis in accounting, Igitol distinguished herself in public education in the CNMI by serving the school system for 25 years.
After her retirement in December 1988, she applied for the Hawaii Centers for Independent Living, a non-profit organization that sought to branch out its services. She was hired as the organization’s satellite office director on island from June 2001 to April 2005.
She was executive director for the Center for Living Independently in the CNMI from May 2005 until she resigned in September 2017 due to health issues. She passed away peacefully in her home on July 20, 2020 at the age of 70.
Igitol’s dedication and passion to help people with disabilities led to the opening of the Center of Living Independently in the CNMI, now located on Capital Hill.
“It is suitable to rename the structure for the Center for Living Independently in the CNMI to Lydia D. Igitol Center for Living Independently in the CNMI,” P.L. 22-9 states.
The late Center for Living Independently in the CNMI executive director, Lydia Duenas Igitol.
