‘Come here but stay away’

In the highly ritualized world of dating and attracting mates, nothing infuriates more than a tease. She is that girl who broadcasts all the right signals, subtle or otherwise, that she is receptive to a particular suitor but has actually no intention of letting the unsuspecting guy get to first base, let alone a home run. Sexist as this may sound, it is usually the girl who gets labeled this, although I’m sure the male species also has more than its share of similar faults. (Maybe not the same sin but surely something equally distasteful.) For girls who love to tease, it’s all about power, leading men on with come-hither looks that usually end up with the boy nursing a broken heart and an aching stiffy, not to mention the humiliation of realizing that one was made to look like a fool and a chump in the bargain. Men, therefore, have learned to steer clear of girls who have acquired such a reputation, preferring to take their business and intentions elsewhere.

The CNMI, sadly, is beginning to look like a tease. At a time of economic want, the administration went out of its way to participate in at least two economic conferences in Los Angeles in 2003 and 2004, with the intention of attracting more investors into the CNMI. It batted its eyelashes, hitched up its skirt and paraded itself before potential investors in Japan, with extravagant promises just short of offering its daughters to these moneyed corporations. Yet when investors came a-calling, they were roundly rebuffed, called names, humiliated, and made to jump through hoops like so much unwanted vermin. One would suspect that the CNMI government suffers from classic schizophrenia—with the personalities of a slut and a virgin rolled into one.

Take the case of Pacific Telecom Inc., which has been trying to acquire Verizon Micronesia. That process, a private transaction between two business entities, has been dragging on interminably for more than three years already, slowed down by the Babauta administration’s unreasonable demands on the buying entity. Compare that with the recent privatization of the Guam Telephone Authority. The GTA transaction was closed in a matter of six months, from the last day to accept proposals from buyers on June 4, 2004, to the official turnover to TeleGuam Holdings on Dec. 30, 2004. SIX MONTHS! And nowhere during the entire transaction did Gov. Felix Camacho interfere in the process or made demands on the buying entity. Nor did he require other telecom companies to buy into one of the assets of the GTA, like what this administration is doing with the cable asset of Verizon.

The worst thing is that the CNMI doesn’t even have the civility to reject these investors gracefully, preferring to completely humiliate and have them ridden out on rails. Look at what happened to the proposed ferry operations at the Sugar Dock. Various sectors stridently opposed the project, citing sentimental and environmental reasons for their opposition. The hue and cry was such that the potential investor was made to slink out with its tail between its legs, leaving us with a decrepit dock and one less revenue stream for the government’s coffers. And you wonder why payless paydays are cropping up more often in the headlines.

There is also that barely restrained contempt for Korean-owned mom-and-pop stores, making them convenient scapegoats for imagined slights and personal miseries, as if their small successes are a personal affront and hindrance to one’s own successes.

And then, of course, there was the Azmar Corp. Regardless of what one will say of that company’s motives, intentions, or credibility, whether one supports or opposes its proposal to mine pozzolan from Pagan, that company didn’t deserve the treatment it got—treated like common criminals, given the runaround, and so completely humiliated that its treatment will surely give other potential investors pause.

And that’s the crux of the matter. Other investors will surely be looking at how the CNMI treats its callers—legitimate or otherwise—and will be doubly wary before plunking down a bundle on these islands. Of course, the CNMI has reason to be leery, considering the number of off-island investments that have turned out to be lemons (the Saipan University fiasco comes to mind) but must it presume everyone to be guilty of ill motives until proven otherwise?

The CNMI has to rid itself of its schizophrenic approach to doing business with business. It has to come up with a system that will govern its treatment of all investors so that legitimate ones are separated from the chaff without anyone resorting to tar and feathers when an unwanted investor shows up at our door. It must also learn the value of compromise. The CNMI is not the navel of the world. The world does not revolve around these tiny dots in the Pacific. There are infinitely more places to invest in that are far more profitable and with more potential for growth, so a little more civility and less shrill rhetoric would go a long way toward keeping those investors interested. If we don’t, the rest of the world will wise up to our teasing ways and will be steering clear of these shores, leaving us to pine for the good ol’ days when we had them all lining up for our favors.

(The views expressed are strictly that of the author. Vallejera is the editor of the Saipan Tribune.)