NMI Judiciary holds Covenant discussion in time for Covenant celebration

The CNMI Judiciary hosted the inaugural Covenant Day Konbetsasion: “Understanding the Covenant” last Friday as part of its celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Northern Marianas Judiciary, just a couple of days before the CNMI’s annual Covenant Day celebration last Sunday.

The NMI Judiciary, Supreme Court, Judiciary Historical Society, in collaboration with the Northern Marianas College hosted the first Konbetsasion: “Understanding the Covenant” event at the Guma Hustisa in Susupe.

During the event, two of the Covenant’s original negotiators, Pedro A. Tenorio and Manuel A. Sablan, took the stage to answer questions and give attendees insights into how the Covenant, which essentially established the Commonwealth, came to be.

In attendance was Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, CNMI stakeholders, and students from the Northern Marianas College and Marianas High School.

After the event, Palacios expressed his gratitude to Tenorio and Sablan for taking the time to answer questions and initiate conversation about the Covenant.

“We are appreciative of Pedro A. Tenorio and Manuel A. Sablan who were part of the negotiating team. We really appreciate how they encapsulate the struggles and all the work that our negotiators made to get us where we are at today. A lot of these [individuals] studied and worked hard to put us where we are today. Now, it’s up to our generation and the next to uphold it. I believe the Judiciary did a really good job in capturing this,” he said.

Palacios said the event is a great way for members of the community, as well as students, to learn about the CNMI’s history.

“This is part of our history, this is who we are and there are still a lot of kinks, still a lot of issues that we need to overcome, [but] they’re not insurmountable,” he said.

According to Nathan Ford, law clerk to Justice Perry Inos of the Supreme Court, although the event was organized as part of the Judiciary’s 35th anniversary celebration, luck would have it that the event nearly coincides with the CNMI’s Covenant Day celebration.

“As luck would have it, Covenant Day is early in the year so it kind of worked out. But I think its also a very fitting [event] because the Covenant is the foundational moment before the Commonwealth came to be. It made sense to kick off [our celebration with this event] because after the Covenant, the Judiciary could be created,” he said.

Ford said it was great to have so many generations present for the Covenant conversation.

“We were really excited to have a large presence from several classes from NMC and MHS. It’s good to have multiple generations involved in these conversations to hear from some of our founding fathers who negotiated with ambassadors from the U.S. and were there when President Gerald Ford signed it. We [had] so many generations [in attendance] and I think it’s very important because we’re at a moment where we can still get that foundational history from the mouths of the people who were there. It’s important that it gets passed on and people of every generation have the ability to participate and ask questions,” he said.