Former Speaker Oscar C. Rasa, the group’s spokesman and adviser, said they have been extensively discussing the issue even before an independent ad-hoc committee initiated the discussion on Article 12, which restricts land ownership to persons of Northern Marianas descent only.
Rasa said he personally believes that Article 12 should “stay as is.”
Article 12, he said, was designed to prevent the marginalization of the indigenous population.
Article 12 stipulates that only persons of Northern Marianas descent may buy or own land in the CNMI.
Earlier, Commonwealth Ports Authority Executive Director Efrain F. Camacho, chairman of the ad-hoc committee, said they have scheduled a forum to discuss the land alienation provision of the Constitution ahead of a possible referendum in 2011.
Camacho said repealing Article 12 in its entirety will bring about economic development in the CNMI.
But Rasa said the belief that the repeal will bring more investors to CNMI is not convincing.
He said investors will come in CNMI to make money but “how can they do that when we are facing problems with infrastructure, labor and utilities?”
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.
This 25-year period will end in 2011.
