Youths urged to take a stand on land ownership issue

The issue of land ownership in the CNMI came before members of the Youth Congress during their second regular session on Saturday, with an ad-hoc committee urging young leaders to take a stand on the issue as it will affect the future of the islands’ youths in the years to come.

The ad-hoc committee—composed of Efren Camacho (chairman), Sen. Maria Pangelinan, (vice chair), Edward Pangelinan, and David Sablan—spent time explaining to the Youth Congress about Article 12 and how it will affect their future.

“Article 12 has actually stifled the development and growth of our economy,” the committee members stressed.

The committee explained that since 1978 the CNMI has experienced the Article 12 restriction, describing it as a government restriction that tells a private property owner what to do with his property.

“We are educated and mature enough to decide on our own without government interference. The CNMI government has no valid reason for interfering in the private affairs of individuals including privately owned land matters,” the committee stated.

The Covenant and the Commonwealth Constitution provides that 25 years after the people become U.S. citizens, Article 12 will be submitted to a referendum or initiative for the modification of the land alienation provision.

The referendum will be in 2011.

“We believe that the Youth Congress has the responsibility to begin the education process that would help our people make an informed decision,” the committee members said.

Edward Pangelinan, a former Resident Representative to Washington who was chairman of the Marianas Political Status Commission, urged youth leaders to take a stand on the issue and vowed that the ad hoc committee will guide them and will be willing to provide information about this critical issue.

Article 12 states that the acquisition of permanent and long-term interests in real property within the Commonwealth should be restricted to persons of Northern Marianas descent, NMD.

Acquisition includes by sale, lease, gift, inheritance, or other means.

It also explains that a transfer to a spouse by inheritance is not an acquisition if the owner dies without issue or with issue not eligible to own land in the NMI.

The Constitution defines a Northern Marianas descent as a person who is a citizen or national of the United States and who is at least one quarter Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian blood or a combination thereof or an adopted child of a person of Northern Marinas descent if adopted while under the age of 18.

A person shall be considered to be a full-blooded Northern Marianas Chamorro or Northern Marianas Carolinian if that person was born or domiciled in the NMI by 1950 and was citizen of the Trust Territory of the Pacific islands before the termination of the Trusteeship.

The ad hoc committee presented scenarios where someday some of the many high school graduates who attend universities would probably marry non-NMDs during or after graduation.

The child would be 50 percent NMD and if he marries non-NMD their children will have 25 percent bloodline and can own land in the CNMI.

However, if the grandchildren marry non-NMDs, their child will have at least 25 percent bloodline and will still be eligible.