Workers laud Cohen; wants RP veep De Castro to visit them

Worker groups in the CNMI lauded David B. Cohen, a former deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, for his support of long-term alien workers in his comments submitted to a congressional hearing on the implementation of federalization in the CNMI.

They said it inspires them to continue with their struggle to ask the federal government to grant them long-term immigration status.

In comments submitted to the U.S. Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife, Cohen pushed for flexible federalization, saying this would minimize any harmful effects on the CNMI economy.

The oversight hearing on the implementation of the federalization law was held midnight last night (Saipan time) or May 19 in Washington D.C.

Cohen was one of several witnesses at the subcommittee hearing.

“More and more people are expressing their support for us. Even our employers are visiting us here for moral and material support. It only shows that there is still hope for us,” said the group’s designated spokesperson, Yho Villavicencio.

The guest workers are on the final day of their three-day peaceful assembly in front of the TSL Plaza, which houses the offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the CNMI.

They were set to hold a prayer vigil about 7pm last night. Invited guests included Rep. Tina Sablan, Glenn Hunter, Ed Propst, Ron Hodges, lawyer Stephen Woodruff and other supporters.

The guest workers reiterated their call for the U.S. Congress to grant them “an improved status as stipulated in Public Law 110-229 Section 6, which directs the Secretary of the Interior to report to the U.S. Congress whether or not it should consider permitting lawfully admitted guest workers lawfully residing in the CNMI to apply for long-term status under the immigration and nationality laws of the U.S.”

Itos Feliciano, president of the Human Dignity Movement, said they want someone from the Philippine government, preferably Vice President Noli De Castro, to personally attend to their plight.

“If he can make it to the Middle East, then he can also visit us here on Saipan, which is less than three hours in travel time,” Feliciano said,

Villavicencio said all groups would support this.

On April 1, Feliciano wrote a letter to De Castro informing him about the problems and issues that confront overseas Filipino contract workers on Saipan.

A response letter came from De Castro’s staff Sheryl M. Dela Cruz on April 17 requesting for further details of the situation.

Earlier, the worker groups expressed their intention to draft a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to help them ask the U.S. government about their concerns.

Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act calls for federal takeover of CNMI immigration by Nov. 28, from an earlier date of June 1, 2009. The federal government granted an extension until November following request for postponement by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.

The guest workers said there should be no further extensions because this would only prolong their agony and the economic crisis in the CNMI.

“We’re not making any false claims because even Mr. Cohen understand what we’re fighting for,” Villavicencio said.

When asked about any initial gains made by the peaceful assembly, Rabby Syed of the United Workers Movement said they were able to send the message clearly to other workers.

“Some of them are disappointed but we are showing them that we can’t be disappointed right now. We know that Congress will make its evaluation report before it will decide,’ he said.

He said they were also motivated by the significant number of people who signed up at the assembly.

The total number of guests, workers, and others who visit or join them is expected to reach the 1,000th mark today.

The group estimates that there are about 14,000 guest workers who are still here, including Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Filipinos, Bangladeshis and other ethnicities.