Washington and elected officials here seem to have overlooked the legal status of the CNMI, as though it\u2019s a territory like others under the flag. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not. It is a \u2018commonwealth\u2019 in political union with the U.S. inherent under U.S. Public Law 94-241 or Covenant agreement,\u201d according to former speaker Oscar C. Rasa.<\/p>\n
He noted that the agreement excludes some aspects of the U.S. Bill of Rights and provides limited landownership to the indigenous people. <\/p>\n
Moreover, the agreement says the application of federal laws must specifically name the CNMI lest it doesn\u2019t apply here, Rasa said. \u201cThese are the unique aspects of the agreement which sets the NMI apart from other territories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, the U.S. Congress doesn\u2019t have plenary (absolute) powers over the NMI like it does Guam and others,\u201d Rasa pointed out. \u201cIn short, we have self-government while Guam can\u2019t have the same as an unincorporated territory.\u201d <\/p>\n
There were challenges to certain provisions of the agreement that was upheld by the courts such as exclusion of some of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution and the integrity of Section 805 of the Covenant or land alienation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs interpreted by the courts, \u2018in the territorial context the definition of a basic and integral freedom must narrow to incorporate the shared beliefs of diverse cultures,\u2019\u201d according to the book, An Honorable Accord written by Howard P. Willens and Deanne C. Siemer, both constitutional lawyers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe key question then becomes whether the asserted constitutional guarantee \u2018is fundamental in this international sense.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter examining the right to jury trial, the right to equal access to land acquisition\u2026the courts concluded that none of these rights was \u2018fundamental\u2019\u2014in this sense\u2014so as to require the invalidation of the Covenant provision involved. In addition, the court in the land alienation case examined whether it would be \u2018impractical or anomalous\u2019 to apply the constitutional right involved in the Northern Marianas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt concluded that the underlying purposes of the land alienation restrictions were to protect local culture and values, that the U.S. was felt politically compelled to curtail landownership in order to convince the NMI people to accede to U.S. sovereignty, and that without such a restriction the political union between the NMI and the U.S. would not have been possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo hold otherwise, the court reasoned, would require construing the equal protection clause of the Constitution \u2018to force the U.S. to break\u2019 its commitment under the Trusteeship Agreement,\u201d according to court decision.<\/p>\n
Former speaker Rasa was one of the Covenant negotiators and a recipient of the prestigious International Who\u2019s Who of Intellectuals issued by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England. He reiterated that local policymakers and the administration must come to terms with the agreement because it distinctly sets the NMI apart from other territories. It means the NMI is not a territory of the U.S. but a Commonwealth in political union with the U.S.<\/p>\n
Labor:<\/strong> The NMI wants an increase in the number of foreign workers to prevent chaos under fragile economic foundation.<\/p>\n Queries were raised on the practicality being sought by the NMI. This is where the apparent anomaly if the issue is based solely on the letter of USPL 110-229. Is there a way out of this dilemma?<\/p>\n Local officials have discussed immigration as it relates to labor, focusing on temporary measures. Former speaker Rasa suggested a more lasting approach such as co-management. <\/p>\n He said the difficulty shows Washington is too far away from the islands but \u201cour needs are imperative,\u201d thus the need to work jointly. He said that capital and labor go together, where one can\u2019t function without the other. Both sides must meet to establish a co-management system where the benefits are mutual.<\/p>\n Da salary:<\/strong> To spin reality into your obvious self-aggrandizement, how many of you could really earn $75,000 to $135,000 per year in private industries?<\/p>\n Would your shiny academic and professional experience get you anywhere near $75,000 per year at an outside job? Like what we all had to endure, you too must learn to earn your dues!<\/p>\n Ascension:<\/strong> The law governing ascension of the Senate president as lieutenant governor must be changed substantially. In other words, whoever sits in that post or the first seat must have a public mandate or the votes of \u201cwe the people.\u201d<\/p>\n The current arrangement is asinine where one without a public mandate enjoys the fortune by \u201clegal\u201d means, disposing of matters of state without approval by the people. The mechanics should be worked out as the proposed initiative is prepared for this purpose. This is a must in the seat of \u201cwe the people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington and elected officials here seem to have overlooked the legal status of the CNMI,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20,26,916,67],"class_list":["post-253605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-budget","tag-cnmi","tag-land-alienation","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}