Debate On Statehood Takes Center Stage As CNMI Celebrates Covenant Day

Monday, 24 March 2025, 8:23 pm
Article: RNZ

Mark Rabago, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent

As the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) celebrates Covenant Day, its status as a commonwealth of the United States is again front and centre, as economic woes and China's influence looms in the region.

Today, 24 March, marks the 49th anniversary of when President Gerald Ford signed the Covenant Agreement between the US and the CNMI, paving the way for the latter to enter into a political union with America.

Former Governor Juan Babauta fueled the debate for a change of status from a commonwealth when he batted for statehood during his keynote speech iat the 16th commemoration ceremony for the Leadership Memorial Kiosku in Chalan Kanoa on 14 March.

"We are today, the product of the work of all these names on this wall, both past and present," he said.

"Their talents, their skills, their dedication, and even heartaches, commitment and hard work, all were desires of a better life.

"They laid the foundation. The leaders of the next 40 years shall build upon it. Let the next 40 years of leaders pick up where they left off and take on the task remaining. Get rid of territorial status.

"Stop insular area status. Pursue first class in lieu of second class. And since there is no turning back, the only path forward is to pursue full membership in the American political family through statehood. Let the next generation begin."

The sixth governor of the CNMI from 2002 to 2006 added that the CNMI's strategic location has high value and he hopes that could influence Washington DC to act in the CNMI's favour.

Moreso, Babauta said the CNMI has been drawn into the formula matrix to its detriment where funding is based on population size, income, poverty level, length of primary roads, traffic volume, among others.

"It's formula that bears only a trickle. Quietly, we are resentful being under the general administrative provision of the Department of the Interior by virtue of a proclamation and order by President Reagan.

"We turn to the other cheek when Washington refers to the CNMI as a territory.

"At home, we vigorously argue that we are not a territory, that we are a commonwealth. We have [Section] 902 [of the Covenant] with no teeth and [Sectio] 702 taken away.

"These were some of the challenges that continue to this day. It is frustrating and leaves us wondering how long this will continue. If in 40 years the number of names on these walls is doubled, it is my hope that their collective talents end the frustration."

Babauta then said if in 40 years conditions are the same as today, then the CNMI would have failed, but if the quality of life improved, fully integrated into the political process, then the CNMI would have advanced the cause and succeeded.

Former CNMI educator and Tinian poet laureate Joey Connolly chimed in on the statehood debate when he said the CNMI should combine with Guam to form the Union's 51st state.

"Why not? The Spanish, German, and Japanese colonizers have been gone for a long time," Connolly said.

"Statehood for the combined entities would make them stronger and actually bring in more federal dollars in the long run. With the caveat, that is after Trump XLVII leaves the WH."

As for the capital of the united Marianas, Connolly presented a novel approach-a cyber capital.

"I think in the era of Zoom and cyberspace a cyber capital might work for the two geopolitical entities. Combined meetings of the respective legislatures might rotate with the seasons. Two in winter and summer in Guam and two in autumn and spring on Saipan."

He also suggested a setup similar to New Zealand's where the capital is on the North Island but close to South Island-so the combined entities could have its quasi-capitol on Rota.

"Interim of the four shared legislative sessions might meet there. The positions of governor and lieutenant governor might revert to a mayor for each North Island (old CNMI) and South Island (old Guam).

"The executive branch would have a president and prime minister. Each would serve a six-year term with the positions a mandatory rotation. So, for six years the president would be from North (CNMI) and the prime minister from South (Guam).

"A unicameral legislature with sharply reduced numbers compared to the present number elected on both islands might well get bills and laws passed more readily. A non-voting member of the U.S. military acting as a liaison with the US Armed Forces would be present at all congressional sessions."

'CNMI has so much to offer'

Northern Marianas College student and professional photographer Quinn Bready said the CNMI becoming a 51st state could just be the shakeup the Commonwealth needs.

"The CNMI has been represented in its history and culture for the past 600 years by whose 'authority' they've been under (Spanish, German, Japanese, American).

"The CNMI has so much to offer the world that is outside of what the US would offer in exchange. I'm not afraid of a change. I'm afraid of a change that once again benefits the US over the residents of this island.

"If it happens to become a state, that's fine, the CNMI will survive, it's been through worse."

Meanwhile, it is a hard no when it comes to uniting with Guam to become the Union's 51st state for Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting firefighter Edward Dela Cruz Jr.

"We are a commonwealth with a unique political union with the United States," he said.

"Obviously, no one from Guam or the CNMI wants the other to be the capital if there was a reunification.

"We obviously want our capital to be the capital. Anyone that says otherwise does not have the guts to come clean about it. If it comes down to a vote though and people vote 'yes' I will support whole heartedly for now: Hell. No!"

Adam Walsh, an assistant professor for the Northern Marianas College's Language and Humanities department, cautions to be careful what the CNMI and Guam wish for when it comes to becoming a state.

"My comments were more about statehood and less about a Guam/CNMI unification," Walsh said.

"I don't think having voting representation in Congress and the right to vote for president will improve the lives of the Marianas.

"If anything, it will further tax our struggling communities and exhibit a larger US influence and oversight militarily, economically, socially, even culturally.

"It's a lose-lose situation in my mind. The gray area we currently live within our commonwealth (territory for Guam) benefits us more than a possible Guam/CNMI state.

"The only way I could see this as a positive opportunity would be for more federal aid/assistance, but I don't think that's the case."

If the CNMI and Guam become a state it will be entitled to a voting delegate in US Congress as well as its citizens being allowed to vote for presidents, rights it does not have presently since both are US territories.

Meanwhile, lawyer Michael White said becoming a state is easier said than done.

"Hawaii didn't become a state until jet planes made travel to and from the islands more practical," White said.

He said the Northern Marianas may have to wait until supersonic transport across the Pacific becomes a reality.

"Statehood calls into play the equal protection clause of the US Constitution, which means that representation in the legislature would have to be apportioned by population.

"Which means that the Northern Marianas, with barely one-third of Guam's population, would be looking at a distinct minority position in the combined legislature.

"Which means that we would be last in line for the allocation of resources. Which means that statehood is essentially a non-starter.

"An arrangement like our Covenant, which allows a bicameral legislature with one house based on geography rather than population, would protect us, but would the people of Guam buy into that? And such an arrangement could pass constitutional muster only if the Insular Cases remain a good law."

'Marianas becoming a US state is extremely unlikely'

Businessman Louis Rodgers does not see statehood and unification with Guam as feasible in the near future.

"First of all, it will be hard no for NMD (Northern Marianas Descent) who will not want to see Article 12 go away.

"As a state there would be no way to keep in place. The Marianas becoming a US state is extremely unlikely. Article 12 as it relates to the US states is unconstitutional and only allowed because of the covenant.

Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution restricts the acquisition of permanent and long-term interests in real property in the Commonwealth to persons of Northern Marianas descent.

During her trip last month to Saipan to attend the ordination and installation of new CNMI Bishop Romeo Convocar, Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero said there will be strength in numbers once Guam and CNMI are reunited and admitted as a state.

"We want to be united because being united will deliver a strong voice for the Micronesia," she said.

"And although politically we're not really formally united, I think our issues are the same.

"[CNMI] Governor Arnold Palacios and I worked very closely to address the challenges of our Marianas in many, many ways through forums and through visits, through many functions, even through the federal government."

She added that reunification is always something that Guam and CNMI will always be reaching for because she believes the Marianas never should have been divided in the first place.

"We have always been a One Marianas. If you look back in our history, in our ancestries, even our trade and commerce, that the Chamorro people throughout CNMI and Guam have been very well together.

"Unfortunately, wars and the bad situations of wars have sort of separated us.

"Not sort of, but really separated us. And we have discussions, even through the legislative bodies, of how best we can address that so we can, again, have a strong united voice for the Marianas."

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