Article 12 the ‘hot-button’ issue at first Marianas Indigenous Conference

Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution dominated the discussion at the final day of the Marianas Indigenous Conference hosted by Northern Marianas Descent Corp. on Sept. 29.

With five panelists invited to the discussion, different viewpoints were shared, detailing the pros and cons of Article 12.

The panelists included Oscar C. Rasa, a former speaker and member of the Marianas Political Status Commission during the Covenant negotiations with the United States; attorney Vince Seman; Guam resident Fanai Castro; Saipan resident Lino M. Olopai; former senator Maria Frica T. Pangelinan; and Department of Public Lands Secretary Pete A. Tenorio.

According to Rasa, the discussion on Article 12 started because of Section 805 of the Covenant, which established a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. It requires that the CNMI government “25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement, may thereafter regulate the alienation of permanent and long-term interests in real property so as to restrict the acquisition of such interests to persons of NMI descent or NMD.”

Rasa said Section 805 simply states that what constitutes as long-term interest in land is up to the NMD to decide.

“As a former Covenant negotiator, Section 805 was one of those issues that was raised and a lot of legal questions were involved,” he said.

Rasa cited the Wabol v. Villacrusis case, stating that there were three particular issues the federal court abdicated on: trial by jury, apportionment of the senatorial districts, and the land alienation provision.

“This case basically asserts that if you’re a U.S citizen you have the right to own land. The federal court said, ‘Not necessarily.’ While all these were raised, the Covenant knew that these were without prejudice and subject to interpretation by the courts,” Rasa said.

Pangelinan said the Covenant actually permits reconsideration of Article 12 after 25 years.

“I know that former speaker Rasa had a pre-mutual agreement. But that mutual agreement is no longer applicable after 25 years, therefore we have that option to unilaterally decide what we want to do with respect to Article 12,” Pangelinan said.

She said most people want to abolish Article 12 and just return to individual ownership by taking full control of the land without the restriction of Article 12.

Pangelinan was echoed by Seman, who quoted a sentence from the Covenant, that “Land is the only significant asset that the people of the Commonwealth have.”

“For me that is a very big insult. For me, the greatest asset of any people should be its people, regardless of whether or not we have Article 12. Everyone of you has the capacity and should have the capacity to make your own decisions,” Seman said.

He noted that one of the key phrases of Article 12 is “protection from exploitation” yet it does not preclude locals who take advantage of other locals through landownership.

“For 25 years we have been so busy protecting ourselves from the outsiders, little had been said about protecting ourselves from the insiders. All I am saying is that, don’t sell your land, it is your decision,” he said.

Tenorio, meanwhile, said he remembers that they all agreed on Section 805 of the Covenant when it comes to denying other U.S citizens to own land in the CNMI. He said it was a very significant constitutional question on equal rights.

He noted that they talked about Guam and other islands that allowed their lands to be sold, citing the case of how the native Hawaiians lost most of their lands.

“Hawaiians were told to look up to the sky, and when some folks looked down, the land was gone,” he said.

“The U.S negotiators were very reluctant to accept the request of the discriminatory potential of land alienation and not allowing others to own land. It’s not the U.S that asked us to protect our land from others. I believe it was our own Covenant negotiators,” Tenorio said.

Olopai discussed how the Carolinian style of ownership is different from the Western style of U.S.

The conference moderator, John Gonzales, said the issue will help the Northern Marianas Descent Corp. develop policy recommendations that will be presented to the upcoming 19th CNMI Legislature.