NMI descent registry gets lower turnout month after month

Despite the reported fee waiver that spares low-income residents from paying for their respective birth certificates, the number of those registering under the Northern Mariana Islands Descent Registry program continues at mostly decreasing rates every month.

Marians Public Lands Authority has been expecting the number of registrants to increase once it begins implementing a program that would spare low-income residents from paying a fee of $10 in getting their respective birth certificates from the Commonwealth recorder.

Since October, the MPLA has reportedly begun assisting low-income applicants by obtaining their birth certificates directly from the Commonwealth Recorder. The MPLA requires registrants to submit a certified true copy of their birth certificates and to bring their passports.

MPLA public information officer Ed Arriola Jr. disclosed Wednesday that the number of registrants has reached at least 1,010.

Most of the registrants come from Saipan. MPLA records show that the number of registrants on Saipan has totaled 889 so far, including 117 persons who completed the process in November.

On Saipan, some 221 people registered under the program when the MPLA launched it sometime last August. The number increased in September, when 355 persons submitted applications under the registry program.

In October, however, the number of registrants reached only 196, followed by November’s 117.

Registration turnout on Tinian appeared lowest among the CNMI three major islands, with only a total of 14 persons completing the process until the end of November. MPLA records show that only three persons completed the registration process in November, lower than the number of registrants in September and October, which had six and five registrants, respectively.

On Rota, a total of 41 persons have completed the registration process under the program. While the MPLA reported on 34 registrants for September, the number of those who have registered totaled only three and four respectively, for October and November.

Arriola pointed out, though, that the total number of registrants on Rota has reached 107, but most of them have yet to complete the process except for the 41 people.

Patterned after the Native Hawaiian Registry, the Northern Marianas Descent Registry aims to be the sole comprehensive list of all indigenous people from the Northern Marianas.

The registry can be used to determine eligibility to receive a homestead, to own land in the Commonwealth, and to vote on any proposed amendment to Article XII of the Constitution, which are currently restricted to persons of NMI descent.

It can also be used to determine a person’s eligibility to receive certain educational, medical, housing, or other indigenous assistance or programs created by the Legislature.

Arriola said the MPLA has begun issuing identification cards to those who have registered under the registry program.