Saipan Mayor RB Camacho and members of the 2024 Liberation Day Committee pose for a photo in the conference room of his office on Tuesday.
SAIPAN Mayor RB Camacho on Tuesday announced the members of this year’s Liberation Day Committee.
Delbert Pua will serve as chairman while Edmond Borja will be the vice chairman. The other members are Priscilla Iakopo, parade chair; Toni Songao; Frankie Camacho, concessions chair; Pearl Kaipat, board secretary and sponsorship chair; Jeanette Sarabia; Milli Camacho; Beverly Javier; Jojo Attao, logistics chair; Joylyn Atalig, treasurer; Frances Sablan, hospitality chair; Gordon Marciano, entertainment chair; Vivian Sablan, grandstand chair; and Bridgette Deleon Guerrero, royal court chair.
This year’s Liberation Day theme is “Honoring Memories of the Past with Moments of Today.”
Liberation festivities are scheduled to take place from June 15 to July 6.
Pua said the Liberation carnival will also honor the struggles of the island’s manamko’ during the war.
“It’s very much important that we reflect on our slogan to start educating our young children today about Camp Susupe,” he said, referring to the site where the local people stayed after the war before they were transferred to Camp Chalan Kanoa.
Liberation Day marks the closure of Camp Chalan Kanoa on July 4, 1946.
“Liberation is not only [about] fireworks, popcorn, and cotton candy. [Liberation season] is educational awareness. We want to restore back and reintroduce it to our young generations that are not…aware [of] Camp Susupe,” Pua said.
Liberation Day Royal Court
For her part, Iakopo said there is a “very high chance of extending” the deadline for the submission of applications for the Liberation Day Royal Court. The current deadline is April 19.
Iakopo said updates will be shared on the Saipan mayor’s social media pages.
Applicants should be women between the ages of 16 and 25 and must be residents of the CNMI. For more information, email cnmiliberation670@gmail.com/.
The Liberation Queen will be the candidate who sells the most fundraising tickets. A portion of the sales will go directly to the Liberation Queen.
“What Mayor Camacho this year really wants to do is to really emphasize that the Liberation Queen continues to be a role model in our community and will serve as an ‘ambassador’ whether it’s on island or off island,” Iakopo said.
As for this year’s parade competition, she said it will have four categories: precinct, non-profit, school and business.
Winning floats in each category will receive $5,000, she added.
Pua said the ongoing construction on Beach Road remains “one of the…challenges” when creating a parade route. He said he is communicating with the Department of Public Works to identify alternative routes in case the construction activities are not completed by July.
Mayor Camacho said some alternative routes could begin at Micro Beach and go south to Garapan Fishing Base, or begin in Puerto Rico and proceed to Garapan Fishing Base.
Camacho said he is also hoping that the community can fully support the festivities — both in terms of attendance and financial support.
He is “humbly asking the public, the business community and the non-profit groups to connect — if we all connect there’s nothing impossible in our island. Let’s showcase to the youth, the young generation that we’re all working together. It’s a diverse community. But it’s one island and one CNMI so as a mayor I want to see everybody working together so we can all promote our island to our visitors, to our own kids, to everybody.”
