THE 13th Legislature has adopted House Joint Resolution 13-4 supporting the alliance of the CNMI and Guam through the Mariana Islands Legislature Association.
Through the resolution, the Legislature is optimistic that the CNMI and Guam would be able to “work cooperatively for their mutual interest, concerns and benefits with the United States.”
Lawmakers who offered the resolution said CNMI and Guam, which were only separated by “geopolitical necessity and strategic convenience,” should unite in their socio-economic and political interests as “they proudly share the same indigenous culture, language, ethnicity and history.”
Before being discovered by the Westerners, the lawmakers said the indigenous people of the CNMI and Guam have established contacts and interacted with one another. The CNMI and Guam form the Mariana Islands which were once administered by Spain. In 1898, however, Spain ceded Guam to the U.S. and sold the Northern Marianas to Germany in 1899. “This should be promoted and strengthened as we all belong to the same roots,” the resolution said.
They said CNMI and Guam also share common interests and concerns in the tourism market, barriers to economic development partly due “to the anticipated effects of federal statutes and regulations and indigenous ancestral rights.”
