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RP Consulate General clarifies
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Posted on May 20 2004
This is to respond to the concerns of Mr. Gonzalo Q. Santos in a Letter to the Editor of the Saipan Tribune dated May 19, 2004.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2000 between the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment on one hand and the CNMI’s Department of Labor and Immigration on the other continues to be in force and has not been amended or revised. As an institutional agreement between two executive departments of two foreign governments with the approval of the chief executive of both governments, it need not have the signature of a Philippine President on it. Article 8 of the MOU provides for the automatic renewal of the agreement “from year to year unless one of the parties notifies the other party in writing of its intention to terminate or renegotiate…” The termination becomes effectives 30 days after the date of notification.
The Philippine Consulate is following with great interest the developments on the proposed Nonresident Workers Act of 2004 (House Bill 14-142), particularly the observations made by senior officials of the CNMI executive departments as well as members of the Filipino community who stand to be affected by this bill. With this in mind, it believes that insidious text messages and trade boycotts as well as jingoist remarks of firebrands from both sides of the issue are not the way forward to encourage an enlightened and dispassionate discussion of the issues. It only serves to generate more heat than light.
Regarding the issue of the four CNMI residents deported from the Philippines, the Philippine Consulate reiterates its readiness to work with the CNMI government on this and awaits the complainants’ filing of their much awaited sworn affidavits to follow through their allegations of wrongdoing by the Filipino immigration officials concerned. Only by fully cooperating with this investigation shall we get to the bottom of this anomaly and see the punishment of the culprits to the full extent of the law.
Thank you for this opportunity to address your concerns.
Wilfredo DL. Maximo
Consul General
