The advocates said Article 12 protects the culture and identity of people of Northern Marianas descent.
They said on Guam, which doesn’t restrict land ownership, local land owners have either become tenants or landless.
Former Speaker Pedro R. Deleon Guerrero a Democrat who served as speaker from 1988 to 1992, said scrapping Article 12 is not the right way to boost the islands’ economy.
“The right way is to continue your education because that is where you will obtain your wealth and guarantee your future. Selling your properties will not guarantee you anything,” Deleon Guerrero said.
Article 12 stipulates that only persons of Northern Marianas descent may buy or own land in the CNMI.
The Article 12 proponents who joined Deleon Guerrero during the NMC forum were former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, former Rep. Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Rep. Ramon A Tebuteb, businessman Lorenzo LG. Cabrera and Vicente N. Santos, who served as president of the Mariana Islands District Legislature of the Trust Territory government and vice chairman of the Marianas Political Status Commission, which negotiated the drafting of the Covenant with the federal government.
Deleon Guerrero reminded students that there were more millionaires in the CNMI in the 1980’s because people of the Northern Marianas descent leased out their properties to foreign investors.
Because they didn’t sell their lands, these are now reverting to local ownership, Deleon Guerrero said.
He added that if the properties were sold at that time, more than 60 percent of land on Saipan would have been owned by foreigners.
He said those advocating the repeal Article 12 have no facts to support their argument that their proposal will boost the CNMI’s economy.
“Was Article 12 responsible for the war in Iraq? Was Article 12 responsible for the high prices of fuel? Was Article 12 ever responsible for anything that have to be responsible and continue to be responsible for what is now affecting our economy?”
He said only few local people and some real estate developers are pushing to repeal Article 12.
“Article 12 is fine and perfect and should stay as it is,” Deleon Guerrero added.
Rasa, for his part, told students that they should consider whether foreign invests will benefit the greatest number of the population in the CNMI.
The CNMI’s first House speaker is not convinced that repealing Article 12 will bring in more investors.
Foreign investors will come in to make money but they also have a multitude of factors to consider before doing business here like infrastructure, utilities and a good tax law, Rasa said.
“I think the issue here is that some want to allow people who are not NMI descent to become NMI descent under a certain definition. But that is going to be disastrous,” Rasa said.
Cabrera, a former Democratic Party chairman, said people of NMI descent should understand that Article 12 protects their heritage and their identity as Chamorros and Carolinians.
“We are bond by our land and our identity is bonded by our land,” he said.
The CNMI’s land alienation rule should be retained ensure that the indigenous peoples’ cultures and traditions will live on for generations to come.
Section 805 of the Covenant allows the CNMI to revisit its land alienation restrictions 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship agreement in 1986.
That 25-year period ends in 2011.
“The ownership of land is important for the preservation of the culture and traditions of the people of the CNMI, and for our economic advancement and self-sufficiency,” said Ogumoro, a member of the first and second CNMI legislatures.
She said locals cannot successfully govern their islands if foreigners have become landlords in the CNMI.
Ogumoro encouraged students to empower themselves by holding on and investing on their families’ properties.
Tebuteb, R-Saipan, said land is one of “the three aspects of the essence of our people.”
The other two are language and the local people, he added.
“We can’t separate the three aspect of the essence of our people — you can never separate the land, language and its people,” he said
