On My Mind

Was there ever a more heart-breaking election? Several of the successful candidates managed to squeeze in by the narrowest of margins! Covenant candidate Absolon Waki, for example, beat out his fellow Covenant candidate Melvin Faisao by a mere six votes. In several other legislative contests, the difference ranged a paltry 20-50 votes. And of course, there was the final gubernatorial count, with Independent candidates Heinz Hofschneider and David Apatang losing out to Covenant candidates Benigno R. Fitial and Tim Villagomez by only 99 votes.

While that 99-vote difference means that Hofschneider and Apatang did not “win” the election, they did win the distinction of being the first candidates in CNMI history to do so extraordinarily well running on an independent ticket, without the support of party machinery. That’s quite a feat, all in itself!

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Also noteworthy are those who came out so far ahead of the next in line that even with the threat of the absentee ballots, their seats were secure. Among the winners in that category were Pete A. Tenorio for Washington Representative, with nearly 4,000 votes more than his opponent, Herman T. Guerrero with more than 3,000 votes more than his opponent, Saipan mayoral candidate Juan B. Tudela, with more than 1,700 votes more than his closest opponent.

In the Legislature, Fricka Pangelinan won her Saipan Senate seat with more than 500 votes more than any of her opponents, Justo Quitugua, won his House seat with 473 votes more than his closest opponent in Election District 4, and Arnold Palacios, won his House seat with 223 votes more than any other opponent in Election District 3.

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Besides the crazinesses that political tensions always generate in the period between election and taking office, the election of Fitial as the CNMI’s next governor raises concerns of a different sort. He has made no secret of the fact that he intends to bring in business ventures of all kinds, and that he intends his administration to be much more business-friendly than the present administration is seen to have been. All of which obviously makes the business community, the Chamber of Commerce, entrepreneurs and investors very happy.

But what has been lacking from his statements is any awareness of or concern for the environment, any appreciation of the value of clean, healthy, unpolluted waters, any regard for what is involved in protecting marine and natural resources in the CNMI. None of his comments have been tempered with any indication of an intent to be environment- friendly, ecologically responsible, “green” in anything other than color. All of which leaves that part of the community concerned about protection and preservation of natural resources, about sanctuaries and protected habitats, about wildlife conservation, apprehensive, uneasy, worried—and faced with the need to be on guard and vigilant as Fitial promotes his business ventures.

In any case, given the state of the economy in general, and that of the CNMI in particular, the task of restoring sanity and accountability will be formidable indeed. We wish governor-elect Benigno R. Fitial and his cohorts the best of luck.

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The observance of Thanksgiving always makes me uneasy. It seems particularly incongruous in a tropical island setting so far from where the first Thanksgiving is said to have occurred. The image also strikes me as a little strange—depending on how one looks at it—of the Pilgrims, invaders of and immigrants to a “new world,” giving thanks to the indigenous people of that world, and then, over the generations, practically wiping them out. Yet, cynically, Thanksgiving in that setting is still celebrated—i.e., Pilgrims thanking American Indians.

The symbols strike me as incongruous too—turkeys, and hatchets and cornucopias and those funny pilgrim hats, and buckled shoes—all of which are featured in island acknowledgments of the holiday.

Some, here and there, have begun to interpret the holiday more generally, and observe it as an occasion for giving thanks for the blessings that they have, as an occasion to share with those less fortunate, as an opportunity to put their lives in perspective, and be grateful for the good things in their lives—a much more appropriate way of commemorating a day of giving thanks.

It serves as a very useful “reality check” of sorts to stop the busyness of one’s life, to focus on the positive rather than the many negatives that abound throughout the nation and the world—to realize that there is a great deal to be thankful for in one’s life. For myself, I am thankful that I can vote without fear, that people can register to vote without danger, that our elections are peaceful and do not cause riots. I am thankful that I can walk the streets, drive down the road, go shopping without having to worry about kidnappings, explosions, bombings, that I don’t have to lock my car, can feel safe in my house, on my street, in my village, on my island.

I am thankful that our natural disasters do not reach the extent of those that have hit Pakistan, Sumatra, New Orleans and the Gulf coast, but rather that I am surrounded by beautiful and beneficent ocean waters, that the coconut, talisai, and breadfruit trees are fruitful, that pretty, colorful, little birds visit my neighborhood.

I am thankful that my health is as good as it is, that I have been allowed to live as long as I have, that my children are as healthy and successful as they are. I am thankful for my friends and colleagues, that I have access to a computer and know how to use it—sort of—and am still able to write. Though not very taken with most television shows, I must say I am particularly grateful for “West Wing” for showing how a national government could be run—if there were principled, intelligent leaders in office.

I do indeed have much to be thankful for, and I am grateful for the reminder to think about it all. Of course, that doesn’t erase the irony on which it is built….

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Ever since the people of Guam voted to reject union with the CNMI, back in TT times, there’s been a kind of love-hate relationship between the two entities. There are constant comparisons, frequent discussions, about which is better in one regard or another. But every once in a while, events occurring on Guam have a decided resonance with similar situations in the CNMI, of which shared experiences in suffering typhoon damage are perhaps the most common.

Recent discussion, for example, of whether the CNMI should have an elected attorney general—which many in the CNMI support—has no doubt been affected by stories coming from Guam on how disruptive and contentious that office became under Guam’s first elected attorney general. And those issues have yet to be fully—on either island.

Just over the last few weeks, there’s been another situation on Guam with resonance for the CNMI. As reported in the Pacific Daily News, an orthopedic surgeon was hired with much fanfare, since there is only one other such surgeon on Guam. But while Guam’s Board of Medical Examiners gave the surgeon, who happens to come from the Philippines, a license to practice on Guam, the surgical department of Guam’s hospital refused to give him the membership necessary for access to the hospital. The surgical department requires approval of the doctor’s credentials by American licensing boards, and/or American training, which the surgeon does not have.

Yet, the paper notes, Guam sends its patients to St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Philippines, where they are operated on by the very same surgeon, who is a member of St. Luke’s. Moreover, as a Joint Commission International accredited hospital, St. Luke’s has better accreditation than does Guam’s hospital, JCI is a subsidiary of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which, according to its web site, “evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation‚s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations.”

The CNMI has similar problems, with the Commonwealth Health Center requiring American or Canadian credentials before allowing physicians to practice at the CHC, despite the fact that patients from the CNMI are sent to the Philippines on medical referral, to be treated by physicians credentialed only there. The restrictive policy doesn’t not make a lot of sense, and has led to a severe and on-going shortage of physicians at CHC.

Guam hopes to solve its problems by getting a different department at its hospital to approve the Philippine surgeon’s credentials. Whether CHC is doing anything to make its standards more practical, realistic, is not known.

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While on the subject of things realistic and practical, has anyone ever heard of anything LESS so than the administration’s plan to move the Garapan Elementary School and develop the site as a “business park?” The proposal was submitted to the Board of Education earlier this week by Bob Schwalbach, the governor’s senior policy advisor. The plan, according to an article in the Nov. 23, 2005 issue of the Saipan Tribune, is to move the school to a five-hectare site north of the Commonwealth Health Center, to make way for a business park.

First of all, if five hectares are available on Navy Hill, why not use those for the “business park?” Wouldn’t it cost more to tear down the school and rebuild it than to leave it where it is and let the developers build to their own design elsewhere? And in the second place, why gut the village of Garapan even more? Making it more of an urban sprawl is not an inviting scenario—particularly if the planning is anything like what went into Paseo Marianas.

Moreover, it can only be called chutzpah that the administration would even make such a suggestion just six weeks before leaving office.

(The writer is a librarian by profession, and a long-term resident of the CNMI. To contact her, send e-mail to ruth.tighe@vzpacifica.net)