‘We must demand change to move our economy forward’

By Alex Sablan

The following is an abridged text of Alex Sablan’s speech during the installation dinner for the new officers and board of directors of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, held Feb. 19, 2005, at the Hibiscus Hall of the Dai-Ichi Hotel Saipan Beach.

The past year has been enlightening to say the least. I can say unequivocally that I have enjoyed my stint and I thank you again for the honor of serving as your President.

A year ago I stood before most of you and declared my optimism for our future I would like to again reiterate my continued optimism for growth in our tourism market but growing concern for our apparel industry, which is shared by those in the know, about this rather fragile market base. This will be one of the most challenging years yet.

My optimism for the tourism market stems from this administration’s recognition to prop up our destination enhancement both from a monetary and physical effort. I commend the work of the Strategic Economic Development Council ably headed by Marian Aldan-Pierce and Robert Jones, CIP coordinator Chuck Jordon, Marianas Visitors Bureau, Secretary Juan Reyes and the employees at Department of Public Works for their tireless effort in completing the beautiful new attraction in Central Garapan, “Paseo de Marianas,” and the continued work to enhance the central Garapan tourist belt. Secretary Juan Reyes and Frank C. Sablan, and his team of professional landscapers, along with Duty Free Galleria, official organizers of the Tournament of Champions Beautification fund, should be commended for their efforts in enhancing the many intersections, medians, curbsides with the flora that has beautified once barren areas on island. These efforts and the continued plans by this administration to extend destination enhancement to Susupe and San Antonio are all commendable efforts to ensure we’re appealing to the attraction that is our beautiful iIsles of the Northern Mariana Islands and to the many tourists that make their trek to our islands for vacation.

We have been blessed and, with a lot of hard work by this administration, Tinian Dynasty, Tan Holdings, and MVA, the Northern Mariana Islands have the boastful advantage of being the first United States jurisdiction to receive the “Approved Destination Status” and our ability to increase the numbers in our tourist market. I am encouraged by the news from the MVA board of directors that more funding will be used to market the Russian tourists. I recall asking our very own managing dDirector Vicky Benevente while on a trip in Shanghai if MVA was going to move to market more Russians and I was told there isn’t sufficient funding to do so. I am pleased that the funding has been found and MVA is marketing this very lucrative market segment.

My growing concern in the apparel industry—the sunset—is apparently happening sooner then anticipated. This industry has sustained the pitfalls of a community that has not entirely embraced the benefits of its existence or the understanding to sustain its very importance as an economic engine. It may not be too late as this administration, our Washington Representative and SGMA’s Richard Pierce work with consultants in Washington to attain 70/30 added value and see the industry’s viability even with competing foreign countries receiving WTO entry and quotas dropping off.

But we can do more and we have pleaded and continue to plead with the administration and our Legislature to refrain from raising fees and taxes and subsequently the cost of living and doing business in the CNMI; until we can meet at least halfway on legislation that continues to stymie real significant growth. I believe measured and controlled growth is a fine proposition if in the onset we have a bustling economy to sustain us but this has been far from the reality of the situation and we ask our leaders for fiscal restraint until we determine when our doors can be opened and we can handle our enforcement of good laws that protect one and all from unscrupulous propositions within and beyond our borders.

Raising fees and taxes makes it about the money and we need to ensure we can close the leaks associated with our revenue streams. I am encouraged by the cooperation of Secretary Fermin Atalig and Secretary Andrew Salas in their move to enforce these revenue streams I refer to and to ensure we can have a level business playing field within our community. Close the leaks and you’ll have the money.

We have many opportunities to attract new investment. We must not be reluctant or intimidated to use our taxes, wages and benefits afforded us through the Covenant in Political Union with the United States. We have allowed our Island neighbors to gain significant economic foothold and the further advantage of fostering investments that have passed us by because of our indecisions and divisiveness about issues concerning our economy. We have been at a crossroads for eight years running. We must let go of the reins of protectionism and serve to grow with our international relationships around us, while in unison ensuring our friends from Washington that our socio-political status is not jeopardized and the political dogma of our local issues of labor, immigration, and wages are concerns of a once-turbulent-but-distant past.

I recognize that this administration and Legislature has made great strides to making critical systemic changes in our border control, labor policies and ensuring that we are tracking one and all. I further want to commend this administration, Adam Turner and Tom Torres for finally completing our multi-million dollar LIDDS program. What we ask now of our leaders is to embrace trust in our people, meet at the table once and for all and resolve issues and legislation that continue to stymie economic growth with a skilled labor force, moratorium, three-year limit, wages, comprehensive immigration and labor act that will put issues to rest and provide true economic prosperity for one and all.

Closing the economic gap of the unemployed and indigent local society will not be achieved through this continued retrenching and hiding behind protectionist legislation and social service programs with federal welfare subsidies. Let’s move away from the handouts and let’s put the CNMI to work.

Members, we must strive to compete in the region by using all our benefits of the Covenant, Constitution and our Commonwealth but also sharing in the spirit of regional cooperation in the areas of health, education, and our natural resources. I am pleased that Mr. Monty McDowell, chairman of the Guam Chamber of Commerce, is here this evening. We had an opportunity to meet briefly yesterday and discuss ideas of regional cooperation between our Chambers. With a planned trip in April to meet with the Congressional Armed Forces Committee and Secretaries of the Armed Forces I have asked that the Saipan Chamber also be included and we hope to continue our crusade to lobby and encourage our Armed Forces to expand further into our region. I will ask our Governor, Washington Representative and Tinian’s Municipal and Legislative Delegation to help us update and expand our 2002 Guam and Saipan Chamber of Commerce white paper on military support in the region; to include the Governors’ movement for a CNMI National Guard and the possibility of a military installation on Tinian North Field. If we are successful at including both to our white paper we hope to begin our efforts to help plant a seed and expand our market base with Armed Forces dollars. In the spirit of our Regional Chief Executives and Association of Pacific Island Legislators, Mr. McDowell and I will also propose to our respective memberships to have a Regional Meeting of the Chambers of Commerce.

To ensure our regional goals are met even further, I again ask all members to help our Washington Representative Pete A. Tenorio in his quest for the CNMI to be truly represented in Washington with a Delegate seat in the House of Representatives. The benefits of the Delegate seat would be enormous and we must lobby hard while the opportunity is unprecedented, with the Republican majority on the Hill. Representative Tenorio, we vow to work closer with you to achieve this goal.

This challenging year I speak of requires our two main economic engines—Tourism and Manufacturing—to provide amazing opportunities. We must embrace both industries and seek to continue to reap the seeds of prosperity (or probably a more descriptive word, “survivability”) from both. We must refine our policies and lobby hard to promote both while we look at alternative industries to augment the challenge we see in the apparel industry.

If we continue to dwell in the past for mistakes made on both sides of the political apparel table, we accomplish nothing. We have it in our power to change hearts and minds but we as leaders must have the political will to accept responsibility, fix the problem and move on. If we have the determination we can entwine public and private sector leadership to diversify this economy with use of our economic tools such as the Free Trade Zone, Qualifying Certificate, Headnote 3(a), the newly formed Accountancy Board and Limited Liability Corporations (LLC), continued control of minimum wage, immigration, labor and possibly a more hopeful approach, the upheaval of our current policies that would seek to make the CNMI a more friendly investor paradise.

I commend Speaker Fitial, Senate President Adriano and the 14th CNMI Legislature and the administration in helping restore some confidence in the community by tackling reforms such as direct action and Tort Reform to help curb the mass exodus of insurance firms, Free Trade Zone funding, Representative Clyde Norita’s 14-267 Poker bill, passing the Banking Code and continued fiscal constraint in holding the line on increased fees, taxation and fiscal responsibility.

I and the Chamber board seek the cooperation of one and all to identify opportunities in our current system for change and let’s sit across the table and take a cooperative, transparent and proactive approach to making our community, business and personal lifestyles more efficient and friendly.

To assist in achieving this collaborative effort by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the Work Force Investment Agency, Hotel Association of the NMI, Bankers Association, SGMA, Commonwealth Development Authority, MVA, Department of Commerce, CNMI Insurance Association, along with considerable financial support from WIA, Tan Holdings, and Bank of Hawaii, will hold from May 19th to 21st the Marianas Roundtable, where we seek to have the CEOs of our region come together for two days to discuss and deliberate over questions, statements, ideas we will provide them and in turn offer us their vast expertise on all things BUSINESS.

The Marianas Roundtable, chaired by our very own Uncle Dave Sablan and the steering committee, is pleased to know that Deputy Secretary David Cohen and the DOI will be continuing their efforts to drive investments into our region and has moved and orchestrated in the same week, May 16 –18, to be here with several Mainland business leaders on a investment mission through our islands. I thank OIA Representative Jeff Schorr in working to move this visit to coincide with our Marians Roundtable meeting. Members, Secretary Cohen is a true advocate for insular areas and I want him to know that we appreciate their efforts in the last two years to hold investment conferences in Washington, DC and Los Angeles and again with this Investment Mission scheduled in May.

Members, together we must find ways to include more of our indigenous populace in the fruits of entrepreneurship in the tourism, manufacturing and/or their spin-off services. We must continue to insist that we school and tool our children and community members to meet the demands of the 21st century and the sophistication of the global village we live in, in order to attract this possible new investment and our very own citizens to return home. The CNMI advantage is often framed in the context of its low taxes and cheap labor. The lack of a highly educated and skilled workforce impacts our community when businesses can no longer find capable qualified employees and find it necessary to look or hire elsewhere for an educated workforce.

It is with this statement that I recognize the Northern Marianas College and their vision conference that involved the leaders and business community input of the future for our postsecondary education institution, of this administration in their effort to promote education reform through unique measures that promote competition amongst schools and teachers to provide top notch programs through grant opportunities that reward excellence in the classroom and of the teacher or institution.

I also want to commend Representative Arnold Palacios, the 14th Saipan Legislative Delegation, the Mayor of Saipan and the SHEFA Board for passing legislation and implementing a program to increase the per capita spending for postsecondary education for Saipan college-bound students. We appreciated being included in the discussion to set aside monies from the Scholarship program for professional degrees in Accounting, Finance, Engineering, and Health fields, to name a few.

In closing, I say to those who doubt our interest and sincerity, we must demand change to move our economy forward. I ask our members to take a more proactive role in Chamber committees and I ask one and all in this room and in the community as a whole to join us, join another organization or group and move ideas progressively to grow our economy, community and our livelihoods.

(Alex Sablan is president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.)