House divided on proposal to ratify gov't agreement

Legislation seeking ratification by lawmakers on any agreement reached between the CNMI and Washington through the 902 consultation talks came under close scrutiny yesterday as the House of Representatives weighed the implication of the proposal.

The bill has sought to set policies and procedures by which the Legislature can get involved in the 902 talks — a process that is entirely a function between the executive branch of the CNMI and the federal government aimed at enhancing bilateral relations.

Under the proposal, the Legislature can either reject or approve within 30 days any accord forged between the representative of the governor and the special emissary of the U.S. president.

This ratification is important “in the interest of avoiding any questions about the legality of implementing or affecting any agreement or decision,” said its proponents.

According to the initial deliberation by the House Federal and Foreign Relations Committee, the policies are needed in light of the long-term impact of any agreement or decision to the Commonwealth reached during this bilateral discussion.

“[I]t is necessary that the Legislature have a decision as to whether or not these agreements would benefit the CNMI,” the committee explained in a report adopted at yesterday’s session.

The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Dino M. Jones, had been prompted by the Guerra-Manglona Agreement that set the policy in 1992 on the federal construction grants for the island’s capital improvement projects.

This has required the island government to match dollar-for-dollar these CIP funds before it can draw it down for its infrastructure development.

Mr. Jones blamed the failure by the administration then to seek approval by the Legislature or the people for this kind of policy which he said only led to difficulties by the CNMI to source matching funds.

But Rep. Diego T. Benavente disclosed such policy was a result of compromise with Washington during the 902 negotiations at that time since the CNMI could lose the CIP money without offering to shoulder half of the federal grants.

“We didn’t mess up,” he told his colleagues. He also said that Mr. Jones’ proposal is tantamount to infringing on executive power since it would allow the Legislature to meddle into this function by one branch of the government.

“We might be overstepping the constitutional provisions which guarantee certain authorities to the executive branch,” added Mr. Benavente.

But Speaker Benigno R. Fitial maintained any agreement forged in the 902 talks would be violation of the Covenant since such consultation process does not allow negotiations to come up with any deal.

He said, however, that the discussion had proven to be not useful since it has failed to bridge any differences between the CNMI and Washington in recent years.

“I want to kill this 902 process because it’s worthless,” said Mr. Fitial.

The 18-member lower chamber agreed to defer action on the measure because of the split decision. House Bill 12-108, was tossed back anew to the same committee for further review.