‘We must improve on Covenant’

Through negotiations with the federal government and dialogue within the CNMI, the Commonwealth must still improve the supreme law governing its land, the Covenant, which established a political union with the U.S., Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said yesterday, as the Commonwealth looks toward the next 40 years with this landmark document as its guide in self-government.

Today, March 24, marks the 40th anniversary of the federal law that put into effect the agreement the CNMI knows as the Covenant. The law, signed by President Gerald Ford, paved the way for people in the Commonwealth to enjoy, for the most part, the rights and privileges provided under the U.S. Constitution.

Calling it the “supreme law of our land,” Torres, in a statement, said the process of putting the document together was not an easy one.

Over the course of four years starting in 1972, the group that became the Marianas Political Status Commission and the district legislature ironed out the details for a political union with the United States of America.

From this, issues of local authority, citizenship, applicability of laws, and the protection of indigenous lands came to govern the 10 articles that comprise the Covenant. The commission negotiated the agreement with the United States for some 27 months and with this work finished, the document was presented to the NMI people, where a majority approved the Covenant in a plebiscite.

“In the last 40 years, we have seen many changes,” Torres said. “We initiated a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have seen men and women take the seat of leadership, saw children from our villages proceed to new places and make their marks in the world. We’ve seen our brave stand up and defend the country which brought us out of imperialism, and we have gone farther as a society than our forefathers ever thought we would go.”

“Over time though, we have looked to see where improvements could be made with our Covenant, and some items were changed over the years. True, there are some things that still need to be looked at from time to time in this present day, but we still look to the Covenant as our guide. We take an oath to defend it. We must also take an oath to look at avenues to improve it, through negotiations with our federal government and between dialogue amongst ourselves. It is through this process where we can make the supreme law of our land better, and able to oversee us into the next 40 years.

“For many, today may be just another holiday, but it is more than that. It is a celebration of the advancement of our people since the Covenant’s passage. As we honor Commonwealth Covenant Day, let us all recount the sacrifices and the successes that our unique political relationship with the United States has created since the approval and adoption of the Covenant in 1975,” Torres said.

Torres said today is a day of commemorating the work of the brave few who helped steer the course for future generations of our people.

“Let us honor the framers, those still living and those who have left us and their hopes to guide our Commonwealth forward. We thank them for their foresight, their courage, and for the inspiration they’ve provided.

“We are products of your labor, and we will definitely not let you down.”

Ford signed the Covenant on March 24, 1976 and stated then that the signing confirmed the United States’ commitment “to the principle of self-determination” and joined the U.S. with the Marianas “under one flag and one common citizenship…the first major addition to United States territory in the Pacific since 1898.”

Ford hoped for the CNMI to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in remembrance of the conflict and suffering during the Battle of Saipan, Torres said. And these initial steps to self-government, he added, are a stark reminder of the infancy of the CNMI government but also “our resilience and strength to eventually rise to self-determination.”

Torres acknowledges, “there is still more to be done” socio-economically, in culture, and in government and urged the community to celebrate the historic agreement “that allowed for our freedoms today.”
Torres encourages those who have yet to read the CNMI Covenant to log onto cnmilaw.org/cnmicovenant.html to learn more about the historic document and how it continues to shape our lives as the CNMI navigates its course as the Marianas.