NMI control over marine resources backed
Rota Municipal Council Secretary Tom Glenn A. Quitugua has asked both Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo and Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio to convince Congress to empower the people of Guam and the CNMI to control the administration and harvest of marine resources in their territorial waters in the Marianas region .
Quitugua made the request through a resolution he introduced during the 13th General Assembly of the Association of Mariana Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors and elected Municipal Council members, or AMIM. The assembly was held in conjunction with the 2005 AMIM Goodwill Games geld in Guam on June 16-19, 2005
According to Quitugua’s Resolution 008, the United States has granted both territories certain powers of local self-government and they are enjoying the rewarding experience of controlling their own internal affairs.
However, the Mariana Islands are surrounded with vast ocean water larger than the Continental United States that could be tapped to meet the financial responsibilities of local self-government in improving the living standards of their people.
“Granting certain powers to control the administration and harvest of marine resources within the ocean territorial water in the Mariana Islands to the people of Guam and the CNMI will be a positive step in promoting the right of local self-government and a step-forward in reducing the financial dependency of the United States,” part of the resolution reads.
“The people of Guam and the CNMI are extremely proud to become members of the American political families and urge the wisdom of the U.S. Congress and the president to grant their fellow Americans in the Mariana Islands [the power] to control their ocean territorial water essential to improving the living standard in both entities,” it adds.
Guam’s government was formulated through the enactment of the Guam Organic Act while the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands was established through the Covenant to establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in political union with the United States of America. (PR)
