No headaches here

In response to the kind words of Mr. Beebe and Mr. Hirshbein recently in the Saipan Tribune, thank you and while I don’t usually get into public squabbles about legal issues, I had to interject here. In the last few days I have been thanked publically by numerous locals who said that I have stated how they feel and are too shy to state it. After World War II, the CNMI was placed into a Trust Territory as was numerous other islands in the Pacific mandated by the United Nations. The United States became the trustee of these territories. In 1975, the CNMI came into a Covenant or political alliance with the United States in which the United States is obligated to help the island chain with national defense and foreign affairs. When the Covenant was signed it had 10 articles that the two parties agreed to. The eight amendments dealt with land issues. It clearly states in Section 805: “the government of the Northern Mariana Islands, in view of the importance of the ownership of land for the culture and traditions of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, and in order to protect them against exploitation and to promote their economic advancement and self-sufficiency: (a) will until 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, and may thereafter, regulate the alienation of permanent and long-term interests in real property so as to restrict the acquisition of such interests to persons of Northern Mariana Islands descent; and (b) may regulate the extent to which a person may own or hold land which is now public land.”

In other words, the Covenant of the CNMI with the United States government allows the CNMI government to regulate land to be bought and sold to whomever it deems should be able to possess the land and not the United States. In other words, the Covenant would supersede the U.S. Constitution on this matter. The U.S. government only leases land on the island and doesn’t own it. While technically part of the USA, the CNMI is in a political alliance with the United States and the Covenant can be broken by the CNMI government at any time, unlike the 50 states that belong to the USA. The U.S. Constitution, according to the Covenant, doesn’t always apply here. That is why the lawsuit has been filed to vote only.

If the voters or the Legislature change article 12, I have respect for it. Yes, we are guests no matter how long you have lived or worked here. Like the popular saying back home: Just because a cat has kittens in an oven you don’t call them biscuits. Due to the Covenant, certain laws can only be settled and filed within the CNMI and not within the U.S. courts. It doesn’t seem I have the headache here.