Governor plays down initiative on stay limit
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio is cold to a proposal to submit to a referendum a legislative initiative that seeks to bar foreign workers from entering the Commonwealth for employment after five years of stay on the islands.
The initiative, introduced by Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez, was passed Wednesday, less than a week after the governor signed into law a legislation mandating non-residents who have been employed here for three consecutive years to exit the Northern Marianas.
The three-year limit was implemented despite strong opposition from the business community to block attempts to apply US laws on minimum wage and immigration in CNMI as well as encourage employers to tap the local labor pool.
Villagomez has been pushing for the amendment in the NMI Constitution to put in place a permanent law and thwart future efforts that will seek to repeal legislation on the stay of non-residents, a practice common in the Legislature.
Should the House of Representatives give its stamp on approval on the initiative, it will be included in the ballot for referendum in the mid-term elections in November.
Villagomez underscored the need to come up with a permanent law to stop the federal government from “bringing in the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and run our immigration here.”
But Tenorio said he has his own way of solving the dispute with Washington over CNMI’s handling immigration and labor policies. He declined to elaborate.
There are 28,000 to 30,000 guest workers in the Northern Marianas, holding more than 90 percent of the jobs in the private sector.
Their growth over the years have worried the federal government because of a string of social and economic problems spawned by their presence.
CNMI’s proximity to Asia and relatively high salaries have made it a favorite job destination among foreign workers, mostly Chinese, Filipinos and Bangladeshis.
