The day after –––

It was July 17, 2005. I woke early that morning and dressed hurriedly because I had a breakfast meeting with a business associate.
As I drove, I noticed far less traffic on the highway. The usual number of busses carrying garment factory workers were absent from the road, and the few cars on the road were driving slower than usual. But I was in hurry so I didn’t really think anything strange about it.

I rushed into the lobby where my friend was waiting. As he saw me, he gasped out: “Did you notice it too?” ” Notice what?” I replied.

“All the garment factories have closed! The workers left yesterday. The barracks are empty as are the factories. Over a thousand local people are without a job as of today. What’s going to happen now?” I stared at him unbelieving.

My mind reeled from the startling news.
Without hesitating, I grabbed him by the arm and shouted: ” Let’s go see if it is true.” We drove around the island visiting every garment factory we knew. We visited ones in Tanapag, Susupe and finally the factories cloistered in San Antonio. It was true. Everyone was boarded up.

We asked the security guards standing watch what had happened. Most of them replied they didn’t know. But at one factory, one guard seemed puzzled at our question.

“All the factories have closed down. This was told to the Legislature, and the Administration years ago that they would move away if conditions and negative attitudes towards them continued. How is it that you appear surprised? Everyone had ample time to work harmoniously together and resolve any differences. In this factory at least 35 local hires were dismissed. I have this job until the end of this month. After that I too am being sent home to my country. That’s all I know.”

Back at the hotel, I thought of the impact this would have on all the small shops even the big Joeten stores. No more groups of workers shopping in the stores, no more purchasing of clothing, no more Chinese girls strolling in the park on Sundays happily snapping photos.

I wondered how would the government make up this sudden huge loss of tax revenue amounting to over $30,000,000 per year, plus all the other revenue received from import duties and shipping and GRT and taxes from all the supporting businesses. I envisioned the tremendous drain on the economy since we had not prepared for the exit of the industry. We always thought they were bluffing. Saipan was a haven for them, or so we deluded ourselves into thinking.

Where would this sudden flood of unemployed local residents work? What about their families? Would they fall back on food stamps? What impact on the local stores?
My friend and I sat listlessly in a chair in the lobby of the hotel remaining silent for a long while. Finally, he turned to me and uttered in a low voice: .’Well, Tony, we finally did it. We got what we wanted. We got rid of the garment industry.” “Ya, we sure did. Let’s go home. I don’t feel like talking about it any more ”

All of a sudden, my alarm clock rang waking me up from this nightmare. I glanced at the calendar and saw that it was still July 17, 2000 ! I rushed to my meeting and related my nightmare to my associate. He calmly replied: “Don’t worry. It will never happen.”

I sat staring into the sky and thought, ” We can prevent it from happening. I wonder if we will. There’s still time Yet I wonder, will we….”