By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
CNMI leaders are calling for targeted federal action to restore critical air service and revive the Commonwealth’s tourism-driven economy, emphasizing that the community is “all in this together.”
Speaking Wednesday at a press conference on the recent 902 consultations in Washington, Joe Guerrero — representing both the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers or GCEA, a government-private sector advisory body, and the broader business community — said the CNMI is seeing unprecedented alignment between business and government.
“We’re working together, private sector and government. We’re all in this together and very proud to be part of this team along with everyone that went to D.C.,” he said.
Guerrero, who co-leads the Tourism and Transportation Working Group with Tourism Recovery Task Force chair Alex Sablan, outlined the group’s top priorities, beginning with restoring air service.
“Some of the key issues that we’re looking into, in order of priority, are air service issues, including Annex 6 of the 2007 U.S.–China air transport agreement,” he said. “Our approach is to focus on measures that can provide immediate relief. We’re tackling issues one by one based on what can deliver the quickest impact. As the secretary of Finance mentioned, we’re in a dire economic situation.”
He highlighted several specific requests to the federal government, including adding the Philippines to the Guam–CNMI Visa Waiver Program; leveraging U.S.–Korea and U.S.–Japan trade and investment agreements to channel visitors and capital into the CNMI; and examining the removal of cabotage restrictions, which he said are also affecting U.S. Department of Defense mobility in the region.
Cabotage restrictions are federal rules that bar foreign airlines from transporting passengers or cargo between two U.S. points, a policy designed to protect U.S. carriers’ domestic routes. Because the CNMI is part of the United States, routes such as Guam–Saipan, Saipan–Tinian, and Saipan–Rota are treated as domestic. That means foreign airlines — even those already flying to Guam from Japan, Korea, or the Philippines — cannot operate inter-island flights in the Marianas. Only U.S. carriers may do so, leaving the region effectively dependent on a single airline. The lack of competition drives up fares, limits frequency, and leaves the CNMI vulnerable when service is reduced or disrupted.
For the CNMI, the impact is both economic and structural. Tourism depends entirely on air access, and without the ability to invite foreign carriers to fill service gaps, the Commonwealth faces higher costs, fewer visitors, and slower recovery. Regional leaders argue that a limited, Marianas-specific exemption would improve reliability and affordability while strengthening both civilian and military mobility.
“Cabotage restrictions have limited the community for many years, but now a very important federal partner in the region, the Department of Defense, is also being affected,” Guerrero said. “We welcome their support in looking at ways to improve air service connectivity to the islands.”
Sablan stressed that updated data and current on-the-ground conditions in the CNMI must replace outdated narratives in Washington.
“We wanted to meet with groups and agencies that have been somewhat critical of CNMI issues, and to dispel concerns that have played out through media,” he said. “Our meetings were fruitful. Our ability to communicate present-day conditions to federal agencies shows that structurally, things have improved.”
Citing Department of Homeland Security figures, Sablan said the CNMI’s overstay rate is now less than one-quarter of one percent, a significant improvement from past years. He said several federal programs could be implemented “at no cost to the federal government” but would be “absolutely empowering for the CNMI to move forward economically.”
“A lot of this has to do with aircraft and the movement of people into the CNMI — bringing customers to the Commonwealth — and that is the intent behind our working groups,” he added.
In a separate interview, Variety asked Guerrero to elaborate on leveraging U.S.–Korea and U.S.–Japan trade and investment agreements to attract visitors and capital.
“CNMI is trying to leverage existing U.S. trade agreements with Japan and South Korea to attract investment — especially air service investment — into the Commonwealth,” he said.
According to Guerrero, the Apatang administration raised the issue during the 902 consultations, working with the U.S. Departments of State and Transportation, as well as the governments of Japan and Korea. He said the agreements, which remain valid for the next four years, commit Japan to invest $550 billion in the United States and Korea $350 billion. Because the CNMI is part of the United States, he said, it stands to benefit from those commitments.
The Commonwealth is asking federal officials to allow investments made by Japanese or Korean airlines — such as funding daily flights to Saipan — to count toward those countries’ required investment totals, Guerrero said, noting that the CNMI’s needs are small relative to the overall commitments.
He said the proposal has been well received by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees the agreements, and that the CNMI is already taking concrete steps to engage Japanese air-service investors, with Korea next. Because the trade agreements are administrative rather than legislative, no act of Congress is required — only executive-branch approval — though the policy could change under a future administration.
Other working groups involved in the 902 consultations and represented at the press conference included: Multi-year Financial Assistance and Economic Development and Tax Cover-Over, led by Finance Secretary Tracy Norita; Department of Defense Economic and Infrastructure Policy, led by Brien Nicolas; and Immigration and Skilled Labor, led by GCEA Executive Director Clement Bermudes Jr., via teleconference.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
