Church: Guard morality • Bishop Camacho warns against growing moral decay in the CNMI

Traditional values in this predominantly Catholic society is now besieged with the emergence of people whose diverse moral backgrounds have apparently brought about rapid shifts to CNMI’s moral belief system.

Bishop Tomas Camacho signaled the warning yesterday amid escalating concerns of what is perceived to be a growing moral decay in the Northern Marianas, particularly with the proliferation of prostitution in the Western Garapan district.

“The moral values of the Commonwealth is definitely changing because of these people from different backgrounds. And we are sort of outnumbered, so the change is so rapid…because there is so few of us here,” said the Catholic priest in an interview with reporters.

“See, we have people here with completely different views and moral values. Completely different from local Christian values. So it’s difficult to convince them that this is not the way of doing things,” he added.

The bishop has then encouraged Christians and CNMI residents with faith on the Christian values to continue praying for sins in the community and do their best to counteract immoral practices from totally penetrating the local way of life.

Reacting to a statement aired by a private individual with regard to promoting prostitution for Japanese tourists, Bishop Camacho expressed dismay that a local person would even be open to this idea.

“I was very disappointed by the remark that “If it’s what the Japanese want when they come here, let’s give it to them.” That’s ridiculous,” said the bishop.

Bishop Camacho, however, commended efforts being undertaken by the Department of Public Safety, the Legislature, and the Judicial branch in curbing the spread of prostitution in the Commonwealth.

According to the bishop, temptations presented by too much idle time for a tremendous number of women from outside the Commonwealth has contributed to the growth of the commercial sex business.

“For some who only have eight hours working time each day, after that, they are left with absolutely nothing to do. This encourages them to prostitute themselves. And I just would like to encourage our public safety officials, the legislature, and judiciary to continue to step up efforts in controlling the situation, and if they could, to eradicate it,” the bishop appealed.

The problem on prostitution has become one of the leading concerns that majority of Saipan residents feel should be duly addressed.

A survey conducted by DPS during the fourth quarter of year 2000 showed that business entities and individuals within the Western Garapan district share the general view that prostitution is the most prevalent social concern, along with public parking purse snatching, theft, burglary, sewage, trash bins, closed roads, street market, and littering.

Last week alone, the Superior Court delivered a ruling that placed a Chinese national behind bars for acts of soliciting prostitution. Thirty-three-year-old Xiang Jun Yang was the third of eleven suspects convicted of the crime after the Department of Public Safety launched its “Operation Red Light Four” undercover investigation that aimed to curb prostitution at Saipan’s busiest commercial district.

Last month, two Japanese tourists were also discovered by police allegedly availing of sexual services from two ladies at a street in Garapan, paying as much as $150 per woman. The two foreign males apparently had no idea soliciting prostitution on CNMI soil is illegal.