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NMI Descent Registry Month begins
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Posted on Aug 30 2005
The Marianas Public Lands Authority is gearing up for the observance of the Northern Marianas Descent Registry Month, which begins tomorrow.
Different activities are lined up for the month-long event, including project launch ceremonies on Rota and on Tinian and information dissemination campaigns throughout the Commonwealth.
Launched on Saipan on Aug. 12, the Northern Marianas Descent Registry has now drawn 200 registrants on Saipan, according to MPLA public information officer Ed Arriola Jr.
More individuals are expected to sign up when MPLA steps up its promotion efforts during the month of September.
Already, MPLA has set up a room in its Dandan office specifically for the registry. Registration forms have also been uploaded in its website—www.mpla.gov.mp—to assist NMI descent individuals who are off-island or, for whatever reason, cannot visit MPLA offices to sign up.
Patterned after the Native Hawaiian Registry, the Northern Marianas Descent Registry aims to be the sole comprehensive list of all indigenous people from the Northern Marianas.
The registry can be used to determine whether a person is eligible to receive a homestead, whether a person can own land in the Commonwealth, and whether a person can vote on any proposed amendment to Article XII of the Constitution.
It can also be used to determine whether a person is eligible to receive educational, medical, housing, or other indigenous assistance or programs created by the Legislature.
Article XII of the CNMI Constitution defines a person of NMI descent as one who is a citizen of the United States and who is at least one quarter Northern Marianas Chamorro and/or Carolinian blood. An adopted child of such an individual also qualifies as a person of NMI descent, if he or she was adopted while under the age of 18 years.
A person is considered to be full-blooded Northern Marianas Chamorro or Carolinian if that person was born or domiciled in the Northern Mariana Islands by 1950 and was a citizen of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands before the termination of the trusteeship with respect to the Commonwealth.
