A SENIOR student of Mt. Carmel High School won the 19th Annual Attorney General’s Cup speech competition held Friday at the Judicial Complex.
Kekoa Cabrera, 18, bested seven other contestants from different high schools in the commonwealth with his speech that he delivered with clarity and vigor.
“I feel really good. There was a lot of work put into it,” Cabrera told Variety after the awarding ceremony.
Cabrera is the son of Patrick and Sue Cabrera. He has served as a member of various organizations such as the CNMI Youth Congress, the Junior Statesmen of America, the National Forensics League, the mock trial team, among others.
The topic for this year’s competition was whether members of the CNMI judiciary should be subjected to retention elections.
Cabrera, in his speech, said the masses are not suited to make well-informed, educated decisions on the retention of judges because the general public has limited access to information regarding a judge’s term on the bench.
“Rather than having a voting population that is educated on the issues of judicial retention elections, we have one that is dominated by party politics, bribery and family ties,” he said.
“We are members of a representative democracy. Thus, we should place our trust in our representatives. We should place our trust in our leaders. By extension, we should place our trust in the appointment process,” he said.
To ensure the integrity of justice, the people must safeguard the judges from retention elections, he said.
“Let integrity and justice reign in our cherished courtrooms. Let integrity and justice reign on our islands. Let integrity and justice reign in our hearts,” Cabrera said.
Li Yingluan, 19, a senior student of Marianas Baptist Academy, placed second. She is the daughter of Li Yan Qun and Li Zhi.
Edrianne P. Flores, a freshman of Marianas High School, won third place. At 14, she was the youngest of the contestants. She is the daughter of Salustiana and Arsenio Flores.
The other contestants were Alvin M. Buniag of Northern Marianas Academy, Joanalynn SN. Camacho of Tinian High School, Jean Renee A. Jastillana of Grace Christian Academy, Rachel Pickering of Calvary Christian Academy, and Jacinto Sablan Jr. of Rota High School.
The judges were Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro, former Chief Justice Jose S. Dela Cruz, Board of Education Chairman Herman T. Guerrero, former Attorney General Rexford Kosack, Micronesian Legal Services Directing Attorney Jane Mack and attorney Robert O’Connor.
Last year, Eileen Ada of Marianas Baptist Academy won the speech competition.
