CNMI Descents for Self-Government and Indigenous Rights acting chairwoman Dolores San Nicolas said the lawsuit aims to seek clarification regarding the federal government’s authority over the CNMI.
“We are dealing with a violation of the rights of indigenous self-government guaranteed under the Covenant,” she said, referring to the U.S. law that made the islands part of America.
The Legislature has turned down governor’s funding request and has described the lawsuit as “ill-advised.”
But San Nicolas said the lawsuit will seek a temporary restraining order and a consent decree requiring the federal and CNMI governments to resolve their differences regarding the “serious anomalies” of the federalization law, or U.S. P.L. 110-229.
Their group’s objective, she said, is to protect and enhance the rights of the indigenous people.
San Nicolas said the federalization law will, in the long run, marginalize the indigenous population.
“The marginalization of the indigenous population means loss of political and economic control by the local people and loss of self-government,” she said.
“The labor provision of U.S. P.L. 110-229 would mean, as per [the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s] assessment, a reduction by 50 percent of current revenue projected at $159 million,” she said, adding that federalization will “rob” the local treasury of about $80 million.
Such financial contraction, she added, “would translate into hundreds of gainfully employed locals going jobless beginning mid-June of next year.”
San Nicolas said the lawsuit is not a “fight” but “part of a normal process to seek redresses so we don’t lose indigenous governance’s rights to self-government and the ability to rebuild the local economy to a healthy level.”
She added, “We are hopeful our legislators see the issue as presented by the GAO and legal minds. It’s vital that we leave aside differences and converge into a single page to defend the rights of our people as mandated by the Covenant.”
