Reflections for Covenant Day 2009

Thirty-three years ago, on March 24, 1976, President Ford signed the Joint Resolution enacted by the United State Congress that approved the status agreement governing the relationship between the United States and the future Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It was called the “Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America.”

The Commonwealth today is suffering from a serious economic depression. We are engaged in litigation with the federal government regarding the meaning of “local self-government.” Nonetheless, we celebrate this day as United States citizens free to enjoy the benefits, and to assume the responsibilities, set forth in the Covenant.

As has been recognized by the United States courts, this Commonwealth enjoys a “unique” political status under the American flag. The Northern Marianas were not conquered, annexed, or purchased by the United States. The Covenant is the result of more than 20 years of political campaigning by our ancestors seeking a political relationship with the United States. It is the result of more than two years of serious negotiations between the Marianas Political Status Commission and a United States delegation. It is the result of careful scrutiny by the United States Congress, followed by its approval and submission to President Ford. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our political leaders of the 1960s and 1970s for their efforts in achieving our current political status.

Section 103 of the Covenant provides that “The people of the Northern Mariana Islands will have the right of local self-government and will govern themselves with respect to internal affairs in accordance with a Constitution of their own adoption.” This section is protected by the mutual consent provision of the Covenant from any unilateral change by the federal government.

The United States Congress recognized the importance of local self-government to the future Commonwealth. The 1975 Senate Report (at pages 58-59) stated that it was agreed

“…that certain specifically designated provisions of the new agreement designed to assure maximum self-government for the future Commonwealth of the Marianas would not be amended or repealed except by mutual consent of the parties. To this extent the exercise of United States plenary authority in the Marianas would be voluntarily limited. The Status Agreement would be drafted so as to reflect clearly the intention of the United States and the Marianas Political Status Commission that this undertaking would be enforceable in the federal courts.”

The Senate Report (at page 67) goes on to say:

“The idea underlying this [mutual consent] provision is that the political status of the Northern Mariana Islands has been agreed upon by a negotiating process and Congress undertakes not to modify its fundamental provisions unilaterally. This obligation does not derogate from United States sovereignty. To the contrary, it is an incident thereof.”

The concept of “local self-government”—like most constitutional terms—may be defined in many different ways. One definition drawn from international law seems particularly applicable to this Commonwealth. It provides that among the “minimum” attributes of self-government is that “a locally elected body” possess power to legislate with respect to matters such as “health, education, social services, local taxation, internal trade and commerce, environmental protection, zoning, and local government structure and organization: and that its decisions within those realms should “not be subject to veto by the principal/sovereign government unless those decisions exceed its competence or are otherwise inconsistent with basis constitutional precepts.”

Our political leaders who negotiated the Covenant were drawn from the two political parties of the time. Fourteen of the 15 members were experienced politicians; some had run against each other in various elections. In dealing with the federal government, however, they put aside their political differences and spoke with a unified voice on behalf of the Northern Marianas people. We would not have a Covenant today if they had not done so.

We urge everyone in the Commonwealth to take a few moments today to reflect on our Covenant and to renew our commitment to understand, explain, and defend our status agreement with the United States. During this year’s Covenant Day holiday, we re-affirm our commitment to the promise of the Covenant: meaningful local self-government and a higher standard of living through economic growth and development.