Still no to takeover • House Speaker Benavente says CNMI should abandon future 902 talks

The Northern Marianas government will not cave in to pressure to restrict hiring of foreign workers for jobs on the island as key lawmakers brushed aside yesterday the latest attempt by Washington to take away local control of immigration, minimum wage and customs.

But Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio declined making official statement on the proposal offered by President Clinton’s special emissary to the 902 talks, Edward B. Cohen, that will be presented by the White House to U.S. Congress next month.

This is the same proposal laid out during the resumption of the 902 consultation meeting held on Saipan early this year between Mr. Cohen and members of the CNMI panel headed by Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, according to legislators.

House Speaker Diego T. Benavente said he brought up these recommendations right after the January talks and which CNMI officials had been aware of a few months earlier.

“Nothing has changed that we had known of between the last talks and even up to now… it’s not a surprise. We knew it from the very beginning,” he told reporters in an interview.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes also believed it was exactly the same thing Mr. Cohen presented in the meeting, noting that he came to Saipan to push the federal takeover agenda of the Clinton administration.

“It’s old news, same old thing,” he told in a separate interview. “What amazes me is that they have not talked about what they would do if federal takeover happens and the economy took a nose-dive.”

A lie

Both Mr. Benavente and Mr. Reyes, however, belied Mr. Cohen’s claims that he had given the CNMI time so that “abuses would be adequately addressed and legislation would be unnecessary” after he left the island.

“He never proposed to us that he was going to give us time after the talks. His recommendations came immediately after the talks. He told us already what was in this report,” said the Speaker.

Mr. Cohen had submitted the report to the president in which he outlined steps on the extension of federal laws on immigration, minimum wage and customs to the CNMI in what he claimed as efforts to stem labor abuses and curb the number of alien workers here.

In pushing federal takeover, he cited lack of commitment by island leaders to stick with the package of reforms the Commonwealth has implemented as he indicated the exemptions were given on the hiring ban on nonresident workers and that the minimum wage has not been raised despite the presence of a local wage review board.

But Mr. Benavente argued the granting of waivers is necessary as the island does not have enough labor pool to work in the business sector, making special note that exemptions have not been given to waitresses or domestic workers.

“That’s impossible,” he explained. “We are not ever going to see us this government to say that we are going to place restrictions on the hiring of nonresident workers.”

He added that alien workers are still needed to assist in the economic growth. “Those exemptions are all justified and supported by this Legislature.”

No more talks

Mr. Benavente, who is a member of the local 902 team, junked the idea of resuming talks with Mr. Cohen as this will not lead to anything productive because of the White House’s stance to push its agenda for the CNMI, a view shared by Mr. Reyes.

“No matter how much reforms we have done, we can’t convince these people anymore. It’s hard to argue reforms because they choose to ignore them,” said the senator.

But the CNMI can still rely on the support by sympathetic member of Congress, particularly Republican leaders of the House of Representatives who have blocked several administration’s attempts to wrestle control of some Commonwealth functions.

Mr. Cohen’s proposal may not sway these “open-minded” supporters, unlike other bills, including takeover of local immigration, that have won votes in the past, according to Mr. Benavente. “I am still confident that those friends in Washington will support us against this legislation,” he said.

“The most important thing for us to do is to continue to do what we are doing — continuing with our reforms and to convince those members of Congress who are still open-minded about our ability to control our immigration as well as the ability to set our minimum wage,” added the Speaker.

There are several legislation pending in Congress concerning the CNMI, including a measure offered by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and two Democratic senators seeking extension of U.S. immigration laws to the island. This is now up for voting in the upper house.