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‘No to abolition of Article 12’
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Posted on Apr 08 2009
Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb yesterday said concerns about discrimination can be addressed without totally abolishing Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution as proposed by the Citizens for Change of Article 12.
He said he agrees with CCART12’s call for the people to take a closer look at what Article 12 is all about.
“However, I disagree with the group’s approach to completely abolish Article 12 via their reasons. Concerns raised by the CCART12 can still be addressed without the complete abolition. They seem to imply that because ‘Article 12 is discriminatory’ therefore our Covenant is in essence such,” Tebuteb said.
Article 12 restricts the fee simple sale of CNMI real property exclusively to persons of Northern Marianas descent and other constitutionally qualified individuals based on certain political definitions.
Section 805 of the Covenant allows the CNMI to revisit its land alienation restrictions 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement in 1986.
That 25-year period will end in 2011.
CCART12, led by Efrain F. Camacho and Sen. Maria “Frica” Pangelinan, has been meeting with business groups, students and other community members to educate them on what they describe as the discriminatory nature of Article 12, among other things. The group wants the land alienation provision scrapped come 2011.
Tebuteb said one needs to also understand that the fundamental basis of the Covenant can be found in the three principles articulated in Article 12 which he said are land acquisition, long term ownership and Northern Marianas descent.
“My overall take on this matter is for our community to comprehend the two extremes of this compelling issue. That is where you also come in. So much so that we all understand the pros and cons of any issue in order for us to create a win-win situation…,” Tebuteb added.
