GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang on Saturday said they were joining the CNMI people in mourning the passing of Edward Deleon Guerrero Pangelinan, the chairman of the Marianas Political Status Commission and the Commonwealth’s first resident representative to Washington, D.C.
Pangelinan, who was also the first male Chamorro lawyer of the Northern Marianas, died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday morning in Maryland. He was 81.
Former Gov. Juan N. Babauta and former Lt. Gov. Pete A. Tenorio, who are also former Washington representatives, noted Pangelinan’s “great contributions to the lives of the people of the Commonwealth.”
It was the Marianas Political Status Commission which Pangelinan chaired that negotiated the islands’ Covenant to establish a political union with the U.S.
In an interview on Saturday, Governor Palacios said he was very sad to hear about the passing of “one of the CNMI’s great leaders.”
In a joint statement, the governor and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang said:
“We would also like to extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Pangelinan family during this difficult time.”
“Mr. Pangelinan played a formative role in the establishment of the Commonwealth….
“The legacy of his advocacy on behalf of the people will endure and the impact of his public service continues to benefit the CNMI even to this day. We honor this enduring legacy and thank Mr. Pangelinan and his family.”
An effective leader
Pangelinan, who served as the CNMI Washington representative from 1978 to 1984, was legal counsel and special advisor to then-Washington Representative Babauta from 1994 to 2001, and was advisor to then-Washington Representative Tenorio from 2002 to 2009.
In separate interviews, Babauta and Tenorio expressed their personal sadness on Pangelinan’s passing and expressed their condolences to his wife, Dulce, and their children: Michael, a licensed chiropractor in Los Angeles, California; Jenny, a travel consultant; Captain Joseph, a pilot with American Airlines; James, a colonel in the U.S. Army; Melissa, an associate professor in the Indianapolis State University, and Matthew, a technician at Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Hawaii.
“We were very close together,” Tenorio said, referring to Pangelinan.
Tenorio and Pangelinan had been friends since childhood. Both were born in the same year and grew up together. They were classmates from elementary to high school. “I consider him a very good leader,” Tenorio said.
He said he was very fortunate to be part of the Marianas Political Status Commission chaired by Pangelinan.
Tenorio said Pangelinan was a very effective and humble leader. “He was a straightforward person with a strong commitment to finish the [political status] negotiations and make our Commonwealth part of the American political family.”
Tenorio added, “He was beloved and respected by the people of the NMI.”
A visionary
Babauta said Pangelinan was a visionary.
“He and the other members [of the Marianas Political Status Commission] envisioned that the [Covenant] would open the door to greater opportunities for the people of the NMI and for generations to come,” Babauta said.
The Covenant “gave us the opportunity for development and to be self-governing through the election of leaders and creating our own judicial system,” he added.
Babauta said he talked to Pangelinan five days before Pangelinan passed away.
“We talked [over the phone] almost every week,” Babauta said, because they were working on Pangelinan’s memoirs, a draft of which was undergoing final revision. Their conversation became more frequent after Pangelinan was diagnosed with cancer, Babauta said.
The former governor said Pangelinan bid him farewell after the diagnosis, and Babauta said he could only respond by saying, “Please, Ed, don’t do this to me.”
Babauta said Pangelinan was “profoundly grateful to our Lord for keeping him alive for over 40 years [after the approval of the Covenant] so that he could bear witness to all the benefits that our people were enjoying under the Covenant.”
Former Washington Rep. Edward Deleon Guerrero Pangelinan, right, with former Gov. Juan N. Babauta, second right, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, left, and Marianas Variety reporter Emmanuel T. Erediano at Kilili’s congressional office on Saipan in 2018.
Edward Deleon Guerrero Pangelinan
