ON COMPACT-IMPACT No commitment on reimbursements

Former Office of Insular Affairs Director Allen P. Stayman met yesterday with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to brief him on the status of the Compact negotiations with FSM and Marshalls Islands, but there was no commitment on reimbursements for the Northern Marianas for costs incurred in hosting their citizens here.

“It was a courtesy call [to inform us] that they are still negotiating with FSM and the Marshalls on few issues, especially on financial issue,” the governor told in an interview.

The local chief executive raised to Mr. Stayman the request made by the Commonwealth government for reimbursement on expenditures from its assistance to thousands of Freely Associated States citizens here, but the federal official only pledged to look into the matter.

Mr. Stayman, who was on island for a brief visit, has been appointed lead negotiator by the U.S. government to hammer out new terms of the Compact agreement with the Federated States of Micronesia and Marshalls, which is set to expire later this year.

The visit was part of the efforts to work with the CNMI on the process by incorporating its concerns since the island government is not represented in the negotiation table. Local officials earlier had asked Washington to designate a representative from the Commonwealth.

The negotiations on the financial aid component of the deal forged in 1986 began last year, but no new agreement has been reached so far.

The CNMI has repeatedly asked the federal government payment of about $28 million representing its assistance to migrants from FSM, Palau and Marshalls over the past two years, who have benefited from free housing, education and medical care provided by local departments and agencies.

The Compact has allowed citizens from neighboring islands to enter freely into any U.S. soil. Washington has promised to shoulder the costs of hosting these people.
But the accord has come under close scrutiny from wealthier Pacific islands like Guam, Hawaii and the CNMI after the federal government reneged on its commitment to defray the costs.

OIA Director Ferdinand Aranza last year disclosed that while Guam was expected to receive reimbursement from Washington, the Clinton Administration does not have immediate plan to meet it obligations to the CNMI.

The FAS migration into the Northern Marianas has been a concern by the local government in the wake of the financial woes confronting the island which have pulled down revenues for the last two years.

An initial proposal in the Legislature aimed at restricting their entry into the island did not succeed, largely due to opposition from the federal government. Washington is now trying to draw up a plan that will provide guidelines for entry of FAS citizens into the United States in a move to regulate their migration.