All resources are being exhausted to educate the public of how serious a drop in the number of foreign workers would affect the CNMI economy and in every person\u2019s life yet a lot refuse to understand that the CNMI has an economy because of the businesses and workers that are here.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand the veracity of the negative impact,\u201d said Marian Aldan-Pierce, a board member of the Northern Marianas Business Alliance Corp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you read the comments in the newspapers, one would think, \u2018Are they really here and looking at what\u2019s really happening?\u2019 Unfortunately, some think that when we need money, it just automatically pops up,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
If the CNMI doesn\u2019t have enough people, it will not have an economy, Aldan-Pierce said. \u201cDo we want to go back to the times where you drive by car dealers and see one or two cars and, if you want to buy something, you have to place it on order and then you have to wait?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an example of the situation here for years. Is that where the people want to go back to? Do we want to go back to the retirees wondering if they are going to get 100 percent of what\u2019s due them?\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services had announced in November that it is cutting 3,000 from this fiscal year\u2019s slots in the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program. <\/p>\n
NMBAC chair Alex Sablan said that aside from social media, physical documents are being disseminated in the CNMI, explaining the purpose of a drive to gather as many signatures as possible in support of rolling back the CW cut and possibly extending the CW program.<\/p>\n
The signature drive would be conducted in various businesses and offices starting today, Tuesday, at the Christmas at the Marianas in Susupe from 5:30pm to 9:30pm.<\/p>\n
Sablan said NMBAC hopes to get more than 20,000 signatures that they will bring to Washington, D.C. The business community is being tapped as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve asked friends and organizations though our networks. We have hundreds and thousands now but we could use more. We will have other booths set up in front business stops and anywhere else we can imagine because this is vital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan will be joined in Washington, D.C. by other NMBAC board members: Aldan-Pierce, Gloria Cavanagh, Velma Palacios, Viola Alepuyo, Perry Inos Jr., and Josephine Mesta.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need the public\u2019s support and we need the backing of signatures to make sure they understand that there are thousands of people here are at stake\u2014U.S. citizens and foreign national workers alike,\u201d Sablan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping we can get a good percentage of the business community as what we are trying to gauge here is the economic impact this 3,000 headcount reduction on particular businesses. We are hopeful we get a good percentage of businesses on island and we think we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chamber has 168 members but it\u2019s also 65 percent of the total economy in GDP. Through the Chamber and small businesses that we are trying to reach, we are hopeful we catch the percentage of the overall number,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
According to Sablan, the idea behind the signature drive and NMBAC\u2019s trip to Washington, D.C. in December is to present the best case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nothing to do with the actual legislation, only to present it. It is up to our delegate in Congress, our governor who has a relationship with the president, and our effort through our lobbyist to get the Senate to understand the implications of this. That\u2019s going to be their job to pass actual legislation to get it to a point wherein we can get it dropped and passed by both Houses and get the signature of the president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the strategy behind this. The governor would handle the administration, the House will be handled by our delegate, and we needed a group that was going to handle the Senate and so we hired a lobbyist to do that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sablan said that they need all the information and tally by Dec. 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hopeful that we won\u2019t come home empty-handed in a sense that, while we are there, they will be able to see fit to drop a piece of legislation and get it moved on,\u201d Sablan said<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we think that\u2019s going to happen? We don\u2019t know. But our end goal is to get a piece of legislation dropped by the end of this year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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