Standing up to abuse

In a letter to the editor, Kimo Mafnas Rosario stated that PaganWatch does not represent the indigenous owners of public land. He then accused PaganWatch of bashing Jesse Palacios’ good reputation.

Rosario is correct about one thing: PaganWatch does not represent the indigenous owners of public land. We never said we did. Public lands are owned by the indigenous people, as established by the Covenant and the CNMI Constitution. Ownership means ownership by all the indigenous people, not just a few. MPLA is tasked with the practical management of public lands, but it was never intended that MPLA take from the indigenous people their right to determine their own future and the future of their lands. PaganWatch is fighting to get back your right, as an indigenous person, to participate in all land use decisions and to say no to land and resource grabs that you never agreed to. We are also fighting for the right of the rest of the community to be heard on land use issues, since these decisions affect everyone. It started with Pagan, but it will not end until these basic rights are restored for all of the CNMI.

In our small island community, where everyone is related to everyone, it is difficult to stand up to abuse by public officials. Those who dare to point out even the most glaring examples of improper or illegal activity are sure to come under attack by friends and family of the public official. Even the whistleblower’s family is likely to be criticized. But the CNMI is in serious trouble from years of well-connected people with their hands in the people’s pockets, doing whatever they please, because they know nobody will say anything. The CNMI desperately needs people to stand up to abuses by our elected officials, business leaders, and anyone else who would damage our community and our environment.

The case of Jesse Palacios is a perfect example. Anyone with common sense knows that it is not okay for an acting director at the Department of Commerce to simultaneously be the “Finance and Governmental Relations” man for Azmar, providing strategy on how to get a mining permit from MPLA. Nor is it okay for the “Finance and Government Relations” man for Azmar to be simultaneously helping Azmar’s competitor go after the same permit. It is certainly not okay to put this same person in a high-level position at MPLA. But as usual, nobody was going to say anything.

Rosario actually blamed PaganWatch for bashing Jesse Palacios’s good reputation. Sorry, but if Palacios’ reputation is ruined, he did it all by himself. We can’t even take credit for exposing Palacios. Everyone at MPLA involved with the Azmar mining permit knew that Jesse and Glen Palacios were key Azmar employees. Someone at MPLA took the $5000 deposit that Jesse Palacios made on behalf of Azmar’s competitor. We simply shared this information with the rest of the community.

Jesse Palacios claims no conflict of interest with his new position as homestead chief at MPLA since he’s not directly involved in the permitting process. If that’s the case, then it should also be okay for, say, the president of a weapons manufacturing company to take a high-level job at the Pentagon. In both cases, the individual is in a position of influence that could prove very beneficial to his company.

Palacios also said he “severed ties” with Azmar but fails to say if his brother Glen also quit. Are we supposed to believe and accept that? Does it erase everything the Palacios brothers did to help an unqualified company, one that was hastily created out of thin air just so it could get at the CNMI’s valuable mineral resources? Is anyone actually satisfied with this? Again, common sense says no, but the Palacios’ friends at MPLA say yes.

It is very sad and telling that such a choice, high-paying government job went to Jesse Palacios, who is perhaps the last person in the CNMI who should have gotten it. Surely there are others more deserving of this job at MPLA. Of course there are. They just don’t have the right friends at MPLA.

Peter J. Pangelinan Perez
PaganWatch