OAG stops AG’s Cup competition

After successfully holding the annual Attorney General’s Cup speech competition in the last 25 years, the Office of the Attorney General has decided to stop hosting the event so it could focus on its core mission.

Acting Attorney General Gregory Baka confirmed this with Saipan Tribune yesterday, admitting that budget was also a factor in the decision.

“The Office of the Attorney General has retired the Attorney General’s Cup to focus on its core mission of providing legal advice to the governor and executive departments, representing the Commonwealth in all legal matters, and prosecuting violations of Commonwealth law, as set forth in Article III, Section 11 of the CNMI Constitution,” he told Saipan Tribune in an e-mail.

He said when the AG’s Cup was started in the mid-’80s, there were few of the many activities, options, and extracurricular activities open to CNMI students that are available today.

For instance, this year the Humanities Council sponsored the 7th annual Covenant Day Debate that covered the same sort of subject addressed in the AG’s Cup speeches, Baka said.

In competitions with off-island final rounds, Baka said the Public School System promotes participation in the National Forensic League and the Middle School Forensic League while the CNMI Bar Association sponsors the Mock Trial.

He said there are also math and spelling contests, and the Geography Bee, as well as the Patriots Pen and Voice of Democracy competitions sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

There are also other opportunities available in such extracurricular activities as Junior Achievement, the 22nd annual “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” competition, CNMI Youth Congress, JROTC, sports, state mock congressional hearing competition, not to mention various internships, externships and scholarships, according to Baka.

Moreover, the acting AG said the format of the AG’s Cup has little to do with arguments presented by actual attorneys.

“The techniques used in the speeches would subject many of the student presenters to disciplinary sanctions if attempted in a real courtroom,” he added.

Baka admitted that currently, the OAG does not have funding even for the computers of its lawyers.

“They [OAG lawyers] use their own, resulting in a loss of institutional memory and efficiency when lawyers depart. Turnover is high, due to non-competitive salaries and budget limitations,” he said.

“It is the best use of limited OAG human and financial resources to bring the Commonwealth’s largest law firm fully into the digital age, and to let our students avail themselves of the so many wonderful new opportunities that PSS and others have established for them in the past 25 years,” he said.

“We should all be thankful that so many student activities abound, and that the OAG is once again focusing on its core mission,” Baka added.

Last year, Mount Carmel School was adjudged champion of the speech contest. In the competition’s 25-year history, MCS held the title for seven years.

In the 2008 AG’s Cup contest, 11 contestants tackled the theme “Should the NMI and Guam unite as one Marianas to form the 51st state of the union?”

Among the judges were officials from both Guam and CNMI governments.