‘Make it easier for NMI descents to register’
Gov. Juan N. Babauta has instructed the Marianas Public Lands Authority to make it easier for low-income residents to sign up in the NMI Descent Registry by sparing them the $10 fee for obtaining the birth certificate requirement.
In a letter to MPLA board chair Ana Demapan-Castro, the governor said that many lower income applicants might avoid registering because they could not afford to pay for a certified copy of their birth certificate.
Such document can be acquired from the Commonwealth Recorder’s Office for $10.
Babauta suggested that MPLA assist low-income applicants by obtaining their birth certificates directly from the Commonwealth Recorder at no cost to the people.
“MPLA’s assistance in helping these qualifying Registry applicants will ensure that all persons of NMI descent will be registered without worry about their ability to afford the costs of obtaining necessary official documents,” Babauta said.
Public Lands has moved quickly on the governor’s request. The MPLA staff has started preparing a program that identifies criteria for individuals to qualify for the agency’s assistance, Demapan-Castro said.
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.
