March toward Debt Cliff

Dazed by persistent gloom, we mull the day of infamy when retirees lose their bimonthly pension, coupled by active employees who would have to endure the inevitable “brutal austerity,” the net effect of further private sector contraction. The NMI is on the brink of economic disaster, if not, already. You quiz what else is up ahead as a financially decimated government claims its trophy of total bankruptcy. Indigenous grand mañana has done it and, yes, we did it to ourselves! Don’t blame anybody else but the three pronouns you know best: Me, Myself and I.

More of our people are watching the NMI radar, trying to decide whether to relocate now or wait around for the final killer tsunami to meet their fate when it slams ashore. What a dilemma this must be for most working families. Is there any shred of hope anywhere in the near term?

It’s unimaginable what to expect when the disastrous impact of a complete financial meltdown hits. While the Fund continues to bleed, it is rumored it is paying a legal eagle some $300,000 per year for part-time legal consultancy. Can the chairman of the board of trustees justify whether the darling of the Fund’s legal team is worth $300,000 per year? Loud and clear, please?

Well, the parade of egregious hits against the family purse isn’t our definition of a now failed promise that morphed into high utility surcharge, higher gasoline prices at the pumps, new spikes in basic food commodities, less help for seniors with health issues while salaries stay flat or reduced salaries, among others. Yes, gloom plus doom are the next issues on the dinner table for all to stare.

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Negative aspects of Article 12

For the sake of exploring via a joint review of the negative aspects of Article 12, let’s break down what it says if only to get a clear understanding of what it would actually do to over 400 years of time-honored land tenure system in the NMI. They are:

1. Article 12 limits landownership to Chamorros and Carolinians. Fine. But did it really accomplish this or did it actually include non-Northern Marianas descent while simultaneously excluding full-blooded indigenous people by imposing an arbitrary date for qualification?

2. It included superficial support known as “fee simple prohibition” limiting the sale of land to NMDs only. What is the net effect of this limitation? Isn’t it an illegal imposition-infringement and violation-of your natural rights to full disposition of your land? It’s your natural right (different from a civil right) that is “unalienable.” The term “unalienable” means that it “can’t be infringed nor violated” by anybody, including constitutional provisions that are unconstitutional at best, an economic deterrent at worst. It’s the same natural rights as our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

3. It attempts to wipe out a time-honored land tenure system of individual ownership and placed land in limbo under it for arbitrary government acquisition. The local government could easily confiscate a good portion of your land and place it under a land banking system not for a public purpose, but for future homestead use.

4. If the intent is to limit landownership to ethnicity (Chamorros and Carolinians), then why did it include a provision on adoption of non-NMDs less than 18 years old that automatically qualify them to full landownership? Do you see the inconsistency in this provision? This is saddled with an accompanying anomaly on blood quantum. It fails to embrace our very own while it slams open the door for adopted non-NMDs and displaces our children from both landownership and their rich cultural heritage.

5. It violates the rights of U.S. citizens to own property, therefore a discriminatory provision that severs the natural rights of U.S. citizens who hail from other U.S. soil. It seems ready to declare that a racially divided NMI is acceptable and that such bigotry should be embraced under the Stars and Stripes forever. No sir! Such statist or racist view must be ruled out!

I respectfully support total repeal of Article 12. It does nothing but compromise natural rights to full ownership of my land, fails to accommodate our very own under a warped political definition of NMDs, becomes the very tool for displacing our young people in both landownership and their rich cultural heritage; while it plants the seed of racial bias in a community known for its Christian values.

Land is the foundation of livelihood in any community. It is a property upon which the family foundation is built. It is through the family unit that a community or society is born. Let’s muster the moral obligation with all our might and join hands with them and focus on something more vital to lift everybody’s boat in a fatally sinking economy.

I am not prepared to hide behind bigotry for I am a firm believer that our people are equipped with the intellect, discipline, the capacity for achievement and political maturity. We can make humongous strides forward through education, economic strength, and performance that command respect. Promoting racial bias through an unconstitutional provision is far removed from the need to begin sowing the seeds of civil society founded on the first principles of our country.

Our forefathers have persevered through centuries and we too must emulate their sturdy acceptance of positive changes that have become the tradition in these isles. In brief, our ancestors accepted the Spanish disposition to grant land to the lowest caste of Chamorros (Manachañg) that gradually fostered the harmony found in a system of justice and equality.

In the end, their sacrifice granted us the opportunity today to stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone as equals. Let’s outgrow our suspect inhibitions Let’s do it. The tide waits for no man. We all deserve better days ahead. Si Yuus Maase`! Si JR.