VOICES: Amor Zapata

Amor Zapata, 42, worries about his children’s future if he is sent back to the Philippines next year. (Thomas Manglona II)

Editor’s note: In Saipan Tribune’s latest weekly series, “Voices” shares the stories of those in the CW community and sheds light on the humanitarian crisis in the CNMI.

Amor Zapata’s children, a 7-year-old and 5-year-old, do not fully comprehend what the contract workers cap means for their father, who has worked in the CNMI for nearly two decades.

Zapata and his wife, playfully tell them that they will be going back home soon to the Philippines. How his children respond is what makes Zapata worried about what may come if his contract is not renewed next April. His children, both of whom are U.S. citizens, tell him, “We are home, Daddy.”

Zapata, 42, came to Saipan in 1998 and has since formed relationships with people he calls family and built his career. Currently, he stands as one of the few hundred U.S licensed nurses, one of three American board certified opticians, and one of four diabetes educators on the island.

The already occurring departure of many workers who have spent decades on island makes him not only worried about his children’s well-being but the important work he leaves behind.

“My thought is, if the cap of people will be reached, I’ll be out, who’s going to take my place?” he told Saipan Tribune in an interview.

He stressed the need for workers in the CNMI’s burgeoning tourism industry. “There’s so many in need of workers here. Our cause [in the CW community] is not about us staying for green card status or citizenship, to me, personally, it’s just about keeping my job, staying on island, and supporting my U.S. citizen kids,” he explained. “I never thought is was going to be this bad.”

Zapata noted that traveling to the Philippines is not the primary issue if he is sent home. He is also concerned about the well-being of his children who call the CNMI their home. “This is there home,” he said. “This is what they know.”

Like many others, Zapata is left with uncertainty and questions about his family’s future.

“I’ll have a hard time getting a job [in the Philippines]. Surely I will have savings, but how long will that savings last? How could I send my kids to school? If it comes to that and we need to go home, what can we do?”

Zapata increasingly becomes more concerned about the state of the CNMI if long-term contract workers are forced to leave as each day goes by.

As the islands await an update from Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and federal officials after the 902 talks, Zapata said that he and others are “thankful for the local government that they are supporting improved status.” He added, “They know the importance of long-term workers here who are a part of the community already.”

Zapata urges those directly affected to go out in the community and tell their story.

“We have close friends who are directly affected already. They have invested a lot of themselves here. To just go is something that we never thought will happen. We never thought it will happen. It is hard,” he added. “Us who have been here for a long time, who have contributed so much in the community, are being taken out because of the cap…there are so many companies and businesses that need countless workers.”