Activists call to oppose further NMI militarization

Members of Our Common Wealth, along with other concerned citizens, pose with the members of the House of Representatives after the hearing of public comments regarding House Joint Resolution 21-8, which requests the Governor to oppose further militarization of the CNMI. (Iva Maurin)

The House of Representatives chamber was filled to the brim last Friday, with members of the community providing comments after comments opposing the further militarization of the Northern Mariana Islands.

While met overwhelmingly by its supporters, the introduction of House Joint Resolution 21-8, which lobbies for Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to oppose any increase military presence or training in the CNMI, was also met with opposition by the Commonwealth Ports Authority, and with Torres himself calling the resolution “meaningless.”

In an interview with KSPN, Torres said that the administration has been prioritizing the environment, and that entertaining the military’s proposal does not mean the bombing of Pagan. The governor stressed that he is a staunch supporter protecting the Northern Islands.

Sophia Perez, who helped write the bill with Rep. Sheila Babauta (Ind-Saipan), said “if no one stands up to the U.S. military officials who are framing the Marianas as a training ground… it is going to be like coronavirus all year round, every year.”

This is in response to comments that now is not the time to introduce the joint resolution, given issues surrounding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) oubreak.

“We need to talk about this resolution now, when we can see clearly what happens when tourists stop coming… We are currently learning firsthand what our home looks like with no tourists. No tourists means, for many of us, no school on Friday, no at our paychecks, and maybe no job at all.”

According to Perez, the resolution points out that it is basically impossible to simultaneously be both a tourism destination and a military training area.

Contrary to the covenant

The U.S. Navy’s actions and intentions are not only contrary to the intent of the Covenant of the CNMI in political union with the United States, but also poses an existential threat to the survival of the Marianas as a people.

This, according to Northern Marianas Descent Corp. president John Gonzalez who also said that the actions are “illegal and pose an existential threat to our survival as a people, our dignity, our sacred, cultural homeland, and our entire community.”

Section 806 (a) of the Covenant Agreement states that “The United States will continue to recognize and respect the scarcity and special importance of land in the Northern Mariana Islands.”

Gonzales added that the Navy “cunningly used” segmentation, intentionally breaking a large project into a series of smaller ones to hide the impacts of the project in the Marianas.

“What is a Commonwealth… if we are not allowed to manage our resources; to make decisions about our future? We need to utilize, preserve, and protect every square inch of our valuable, limited land,” NMDC board member James Arriola added.

Instead of reconsidering the CNMI Joint Military Training, which the Navy initially agreed to do according to Arriola, the Navy, while now preparing a new environmental impact statement that they failed to provide earlier, made no changes to the plan.

“The bombing ranges scope and level of planned destruction, the taking of Pagan, the use of Tinian lease area for a bombing range instead of a military base—NO change. We said NO. We keep saying NO. But the U.S. Navy ignores NO. The U.S. Navy continues to threaten us,” Arriola lamented.

There are several live-fire training projects in the CNMI, including the Mariana Islands Range Complex in 2010, the Mariana Islands Testing and Training that begun in 2015, the CNMI Joint Military Training, also in 2015, the Divert Activities and Exercises in Tinian in 2016, and the Litekyan Live Fire Training Range Complex in 2018.

Mortgaging our children’s future

Raised in Pagan, former representative Cynta M. Kaipat also expressed her strong support to H.J.R. 21-8, calling on the legislators to think about the children who would be inheriting the islands, as she urged them to act swiftly in passing the join resolution.

“The type of presence that they want, is a lasting presence that will last way beyond our lifetimes,” Kaipat said. “Think about mortgaging our children’s future.”

“We’re talking about the military that wants to come here for training purposes, which we support and we understand, but not at the expense of our land. If they’re coming here to poison our land, poison our waters, to take over our limited resources, natural resources, what will we have left?”

“I’ve heard some of you say, go ahead, let them have Pagan, because we need the revenue. Really? Are you even serious about that? Think about that… They’re saying it’s okay… for more poison. Do you think you live that far from Pagan to allow that type of fury and destruction that they want to unleash on that island?” Kaipat added.

The former legislator also negated claims that they are not grateful to the military for helping the CNMI during super typhoons Soudelor and Yutu, and asserted that opposing the further militarization of the Northern Marianas is a different concern.