The truth about Cinta Kaipat

Cinta Kaipat was raised on the island of Pagan, the mining site proposed by Azmar. From a humble beginning, Cinta overcame social and economic obstacles and went on to receive her baccalaureate and jurist doctorate degrees in U.S. universities. Don Farrell labeled Cinta’s achievements as a failure. Farrell should heed his own words and free his brain from bias and self-inflicted blindness.

Cinta is a respectable, honest and well-educated indigenous person of Carolinian and Chamorro ancestry. Cinta lost her dear father to an assassin at a very young and tender age. As natives, we must respect and not intrude into the sea of memories captured in silent reverence in the hearts of those who heard the laughter that once filled the air, felt the embrace, sang the songs and treasure the moments of that distant life and time once shared and lived as if it were only yesterday. Only Cinta, her mother and brothers could describe, if ever they could find the words, the pain that pierced and touched the guarded privacy and innermost emotion that distinguishes us from other creatures not capable of weeping or worshipping. Farrell intentionally chose to disregard decency and respect for the life of a man whose wonderful children and widow he left behind long ago. Farrell intruded into that sea of memories. He conveniently used the tragedy of one family to further his interest. He finds it natural to intertwine carefully crafted deceptions to rally support in the name of economic development. He elected to ingratiate himself by pretending to possess firsthand knowledge of Cinta’s father’s economic development dream for Pagan. One wonders how one’s sense of self-respect and decency could have sunk to such level.

Cinta is one of several hearing officers at the Department of Labor and Immigration. Farrell attacked Cinta, branding her a failure and “found herself trapped behind a desk in the Department of Labor.” I beg to differ; the hearing officers possess law degrees and are not failures trapped behind desks.

Cinta did not create PaganWatch to hide behind it as alleged by Farrell. She co-founded PaganWatch because of the need to quickly expose the questionable deals that Azmar and its political backers are ready to seal that would have grossly exploited the people of the CNMI.

As for Cinta’s political aspirations, many people asked and encouraged Cinta to run for public office years before the Azmar fiasco started. She resisted running for public office until recently. Cinta made the decision to accept the challenge and run for office way after the Azmar fiasco. For several years, Cinta was trying to gain support from the NMI community and leaders to resettle the Northern Islands. That is still true today.

The Azmar proposal to mine Pagan attracted the attention of many, including Cinta, and we welcomed the news. However, after reviewing and identifying deficiencies and inequities in the original terms and conditions of Azmar’s proposal and after several attempts to voice our concerns through proper channels, we were met with misinformation, avoidance, secrecy and deception, including the threat of a lawsuit. Nevertheless, our protests led to several revisions of Azmar’s proposal, including the discovery of an employment agreement designed to claim possession of artifacts in the Northern Islands. The 50-50 split or profit sharing claimed to exist by Farrell is a lie. Azmar originally proposed 93-7 in their favor and then increased it to 85-15. On the other hand, all information about Azmar published by PaganWatch originated from Azmar, MPLA records and legitimate sources. PaganWatch is watching and here to stay.

We would have fought and will continue to fight with the same ferocity with or without Cinta’s declaration to seek public office. Notoriety and publicity were never part of our interest other than that of the interest of our people. We appreciate the honesty and sincerity of the many people who contributed facts leading to the exposure of Azmar’s inadequacies through PaganWatch.

Farrell claimed that the “Governor presided over a unique meeting during the L.A. conference” last September. Farrell’s understanding is like a sailboat in a bottle—not going anywhere. Only the MPLA chair and trustees can preside over and conduct official MPLA meetings, negotiate, approve and sanction the terms and conditions of land leases, etc. No congressman, senator, or governor can substitute or circumvent the fiduciary duties of the trustees. Azmar has no business plan, no reforestation plan, no mining experience, no equipment, no local Ph.D. and long outstanding/unpaid bills. Azmar would not pay an ordinary R&D permit fee to MPLA, let alone put up millions of dollars for infrastructure. The transcripts from the Dec. 3 MPLA meeting would show that Azmar’s legal representative did not submit the required documents, including secret documents Farrell alluded to in his letter, to MPLA for the trustees to review. Farrell also accused Ana Demapan-Castro of keeping “a vital document secret from the [trustees].”

The Dec. 3 MPLA meeting transcripts would show that the meeting went smoothly. Farrell did not attend the entire meeting. The trustees, commissioner and legal counsel carried out their duties and responsibilities professionally and impartially. Azmar’s inability to produce documents requested by MPLA was a fiasco of Azmar’s own making. A quagmire!

Ray Mafnas
Matansa, Saipan