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Senate backs Guam’s quest for self-determination
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Posted on Jun 23 2011
The Senate adopted on Tinian yesterday a joint resolution supporting Guam’s quest for self-determination, and passed a bill that would return the Office of Personnel Management under the Civil Service Commission.
Guam is embarking on a serious effort to address its political status through the ascribed processes of the United Nations and the U.S. Congress.
This comes at a time when separate pending bills in Guam and the CNMI seek to ask voters in the next election if they support a CNMI and Guam reunification.
Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) said he is also waiting for the results of the Northern Marianas College students’ ongoing non-binding survey on the reunification proposal.
Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan) and Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), authors of Senate Joint Resolution 17-5, said that Guam has asked the support of its Pacific family on issues where a path to Guam’s self-determination is concerned.
Unlike the CNMI, which is a self-governing territory with its own Constitution, Guam is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States, a colonial status that has not changed.
[B]Personnel policies[/B]The Senate also passed Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider’s (R-Tinian) bill seeking to remove the governor’s power to administer personnel policies and bring it back to the Civil Service Commission.
Press secretary Angel Demapan said this is a move that the administration supported during its first term in office.
“It is more efficient to have a centralized point for the handling of personnel matters,” Demapan told Saipan Tribune.
Senate Bill 17-62 seeks to restore a non-partisan and independent civil service system that Article 20 of the CNMI Constitution requires.
