IT was about 3 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, and dawn in the Northern Marianas when President Gerald R. Ford entered the East Room of the White House. Most of the guests were at the negotiating table since 1972, and were eagerly awaiting the culmination of their efforts.
“The signing today of the joint resolution of the Congress providing the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Covenant marks a very important moment in our nation’s history,” the president said. “It reaffirms our commitment to the principles of self-determination and it honors the freely expressed wishes of the people of these islands for political union with the United States,” he added.
Ford then signed the Covenant legislation that became U.S. Public Law 94-241.
Edward DLG. Pangelinan, chairman of the Marianas Political Status Commission, approached the president and gave him a wooden bullock cart with facsimile latte stones on behalf of the people of the Northern Marianas.
Ford then shook the hands of the Covenant negotiators.
This was on March 24, 1976 when the 14,000 residents of the Northern Marianas became the only people under the Trust Territory administration that chose to be under the U.S. flag.
Benefits
“We benefited largely from the sovereignty of the U.S. and from the financial assistance that they brought to us,” Gov. Juan N. Babauta said.
“Through the Covenant,” he added, “we were able to have the opportunity to go to schools there and live there, experience and become a part of the U.S. as its citizens.”
But the governor nonetheless recognized that 26 years of CNMI-U.S. relations under the Covenant is not a bed of roses.
“There are problems,” Babauta said. These include “working problems” with federal agencies, the enforcement of federal laws and the role of federal agencies within the CNMI.
Babauta also noted that the commonwealth “has not yet reached the greatest potential that could be reaped” from Covenant funds.
‘Most disappointing’
One of the “most disappointing issues” in the CNMI’s relationship with the U.S., the governor said, was the failure of Section 9 of the Covenant to “clearly establish how we should have representation in the U.S.”
As explained by attorneys Howard P. Willens and Deanne C. Simer in their book, “An Honorable Accord,” the commonwealth’s inability to effectively manage its relations with the federal government “was substantially impaired” by the failure of the islands’ negotiators to ensure a non-voting delegate for in the U.S. House of Representatives at some point in the future.
Babauta also raised concern about another section in Article 9—the 902 process which mandates that the U.S. and the CNMI governments should consult regularly on all matters affecting the relationship between them.
“It does not make the decision that comes out of that binding,” he said.
Mutual benefits
One of the goals of the Covenant, Senate President Paul A. Manglona said, “was to end the economic standstill our islands were experiencing during the Trusteeship era and to finally allow us the ability to attain locally determined economic, social and political goals.”
The islands were administered by U.S. Navy officials under the Trust Territory up to 1962, and strict security requirements limited access to the Northern Marianas, thus preventing any meaningful economic development, Willens and Siemer said in their book.
But when the Covenant was enacted, Manglona said it “encouraged economic growth, development and a standard of living comparable to that enjoyed by the U.S.”
“The Covenant provided the CNMI with the economic tools to achieve these goals. As a result, we have utilized these tools in a way that successfully advanced our islands’ economy, self-sufficiency, education and quality of life,” said Manglona, R-Rota.
But Manglona likewise recognized the “growing pains that we’ve experienced.”
But, he added, “overall, I feel that we should all be proud of what we have achieved in political union with the U.S. The partnership has been mutually beneficial and will continue to grow and develop in the years to come.”
Attitude change
House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider said the Covenant did not solve all of the problems and issues that it supposedly addressed.
But Hofschneider said this does not mean that the Covenant should be changed or amended.
“What needs to be changed is our attitude. We proudly call ourselves U.S. citizens, we enjoy all the privileges and benefits that come with U.S. citizenship. But we have not lived up to the expectations of being a member of the American family,” said Hofschneider, R-Saipan.
“So now we turn around and answer inquiries from the federal government on why we are inundated with non-residents, why we have industries that violate federal laws and why we are not enforcing our own laws as called for in the Covenant,” he said.
Today, there are more alien workers than indigenous people in the CNMI. The private sector pays a minimum wage below the federal level, and the local government remains the main employer of locals.
Facing reality
Hofschneider said implementation of the Covenant brought economic prosperity to the CNMI. But, he said, it remains arguable if that prosperity reached its supposed beneficiaries.
“It is not trickling down to them. All this economic development and yet people in the commonwealth don’t want to work in the private sector,” he said.
What needs to be done according to the speaker is “to face reality.”
“We haven’t matured yet as to being honest about what the Covenant stands for and what are the limitations that we can take. And we have to accept the abuses that we have taken on the Covenant. And before we begin changes in the right direction, I think, we first have to acknowledge those failures. It’s our own doing,” Hofschneider said.
