Lawmakers zoom in on local employment

Concerned about the continued influx of alien workers to the Commonwealth, several lawmakers have vowed to focus on laws promoting resident employment.

Re-elected Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero said at the 15th House of Representatives’ organizational session that, while there is a need to stimulate the local economy, efforts to this end must not leave the Commonwealth with long-term adverse social impacts.

“Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past, when our ‘open arms’ approach to development left little consideration for such things as proper land-use planning or the need for adequate infrastructure. Our pro-development policy left us with reliance, and in fact, dependence on cheap nonresident workforce, one that suppressed any attempt to gradually raise the minimum wage, and other social impacts such as overcrowding in our schools, long lines to get treatment in our hospitals, and a huge strain on our island infrastructure,” Deleon Guerrero said.

He noted that locals are now the minority in their own land. He also criticized some nonresidents “who hold this notion that they are actually entitled to reside here permanently.”

“Let us ensure that the ‘economic development’ we allow in the Commonwealth from this point forward takes into consideration and addresses the concerns of our people. Only then can we call it responsible economic growth,” Deleon Guerrero said.

Rep. Manuel Tenorio, who returns to the House of Representatives after a two-year break from politics, said the Legislature should support the education system in developing a curriculum that suits the needs of the private sector.

“Our local labor force badly needed upgrading if we are to compete with the influx of alien labor. This is a perennial and never-ending problem that we must continue to focus on. Our Public School System and the [Northern Marianas] College should be in partnership with the private sector in developing curriculum and on-the-job training for skills development in the many vocational areas of work,” Tenorio said.

Increasing the minimum wage and developing small local industries, he added, would encourage local participation in the private sector.

“The need to assist our people improve their working skills, to expand or increase our labor resources, and therefore to decrease the dependence on government employment, should be a concern for everyone of us here,” Tenorio said.

House minority leader Arnold I. Palacios said the CNMI’s economic problems, which include the lack of local jobs, would take a lot of political will to resolve.

“Against a backdrop of increasing costs of government, a shrinking economy and revenue base, and the lack of meaningful employment opportunities for local residents in the private sector, we in the 15th Legislature are faced with many daunting challenges,” Palacios said. “It will take innovative efforts, political will, and resolve to accomplish this end.” (Agnes E. Donato)