Setting the stage

The music is what happens when it is played. In the same light, the poetry is what happens when it is read. In Mr. Segundo Castro’s point of reference, it was he who framed the argument, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” Conversely, it was Mr. Gregorio Sablan that triggered the invitation, challenging the indigenous voters of the NMI by invoking the offer to send a new delegate to the U.S. Congress, hence, as a way of affirming who is the best to serve the people of the CNMI government and its citizens, thus framing the argument, “iIf it ain’t broken, break it.”

What Mr. Castro is saying is the complete opposite of what Mr. Gregorio Sablan disclosed in a public forum. As a stakeholder and an indigenous son of these islands, all these messages of conflicting interests in my view are urges to the indigenous voters of the NMI that indeed we need to pay attention for a change in the representation capacity in this year’s selection of the CNMI delegate to Congress. Hence, the thought of “if it ain’t broken, break it” was apropos and consistently congruent with what Delegate Gregorio Sablan wants the indigenous voters of these islands to bear in mind. Bring on the discussions making the case to send the best delegate to Congress. We have about five months to think about it.

So, Mr. Castro is anchoring a thought from an assertion made by Mr. Jose Cruz (Pinchang) suggesting the bleaching, wiping out, and desolation of the indigenous people of the NMI. And based on this belief, Mr. Castro assuredly predicted the indigenous people of these islands should just graciously accept this epiphenomenon because there is nothing that could be done to reverse it. He suggested the indigenous population is not the only people who have a stake in the CNMI. I just hope that Mr. Gregorio Sablan is not agreeing to this kind of message on behalf of the indigenous people of these islands. This conflict of visions and contending interests ignite fuel in the already murky situations addressing important practical issues to be confronted, crusades to be launched, and values to be defended at all costs by the indigenous people of these islands.

The only place on this earth where the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian people exist is in the Mariana Islands. The next delegate to Congress for the CNMI government and its citizens should bear this in mind. Is it too radical for an indigenous person to say that you are a Chamorro or Carolinian, and stand with pride as a people by marking your brand to the rest of the world? Is it wrong for the indigenous people to have these islands as their only sanctuary and homeland where they could plant their markers of existence? The islands in the CNMI are small in comparison with the massive U.S. mainland, and the indigenous people living on them are only a few thousand. First, one must find his or her roots, and when that is consciously felt in the spine, you would know the meaning of being an indigenous Chamorro or Carolinian. All my ancestors are resting peacefully in sacred places, and I would keep the promise that I too would follow in the same footsteps. Therefore, the indigenous people of these islands is an issue. If the CW issues are taking the front line, this is a warning to the next delegate to Congress. In the last four years, what public policies in the U.S. Congress has our delegate championed and advocated to keeping these islands as Chamorro and Carolinian as they could be? Let the discussions on issues like these run their course in the interest of luring in more thoughts. Mr. Editor, would you agree that the stage has started and this is good for your readers?

Francisco R. Agulto
Chalan Kanoa, Saipan