The speakers, who all spoke in Chamorro or Carolinan, described Interior’s recommendation as a blatant attack against the CNMI’s indigenous people.
Fitial said the CNMI does not need Interior’s recommendation.
What these islands really need are laws that will pave the way to economic growth, he added.
He also mentioned the environmental impact statement, or EIS, that the U.S. Department of Defense is working on for the establishment of a firing range on Tinian.
That EIS, he said, is favorable to the CNMI, “so Interior might as well give us a hand on that instead of giving us the negative impact” of its recommendation to the U.S. Congress.
Babauta, the Republican candidate for congressional delegate, said it is the CNMI governor, the chief executive of the islands, who sets the policy, not the delegate.
It is the duty incumbent of CNMI officials, including the delegate, to make sure that any policy gets the full support of the people so those in the Washington, D.C. will listen.
“If we are divided on this, they [the feds] won’t be,” he said.
Babauta said the delegate should work with the governor “in going back where we failed and picking up from there.”
He recalled that during his three terms as Washington representative, he was very outspoken about the plight of the guest workers in the CNMI because he knew that was the right thing to do.
But now, he said, Interior’s recommendation to the U.S. Congress is creating false hope among guest workers.
He said those who seek improved status should follow the existing U.S. immigration law.
The issue, he added, is also about saving the economy of the CNMI, which, he added, should be the focus of Interior.
“It is about time we stand up for what we are,” Babauta said.
Camacho, the ruling Covenant Party’s candidate for delegate, criticized the manner in which Interior came up with its recommendation.
Interior, he added, should have consulted the officials of the islands in order to come up with a more credible report to the U.S. Congress.
It Interior wants something good for guest workers it should also come up with something good for the U.S. citizens of these islands, he said.
Vice Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, encouraged all Chamorros and Carolinians to oppose Interior’s recommendation, which she described as not in the best interest of the CNMI’s indigenous people.
