Six take oath to become US citizens

For Lucy Yunyuan Lu Pangelinan, acquiring a U.S. citizenship is the way it should be as she grew up in the U.S. system.

Pangelinan, 31, was brought to Saipan by her Chinese parents from Guangdong when she was only 7 years old.

Pangelinan, now a registered nurse at the FHP Health Center, was among the six foreign nationals who took their oath to become U.S. citizens on Friday morning in a special naturalization ceremony at the U.S. District Court for the NMI.

“It’s great. I’m very excited. I’ve been on Saipan for so long,” said Pangelinan, whose parents used to run an electronic repair shop on the island and went back to China in 2002. She got married in 2006 to Transportation Security Administration staff Peter Pangelinan.

Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona administered the oath to the six nationals, who were originally from China, the Philippines, The Netherlands, and South Korea.

Immigration Services officer Diane Zedde presented seven petitioners but only six were present at the ceremony.

Zedde said that petitioner Ae Suk Doh Sablan had a valid reason not to be present.

The six petitioners were Pangelinan, Elmira Hermosa Damian, Eun Mi Lee Deleon Guerrero, Richard Doctor Francisco, Chyrel Albuen Javier, and Dirk Hendrik Sikkel.

For Damian, obtaining U.S. citizenship gives her security, particularly when traveling off-island.

“Before, when I traveled I had to be separated from the line at the airport,” said the 36-year-old Damian, a native of Nueva Ecija in the Philippines.

Damian, a DFS sales associate, has been on the island for 13 years. She used to work for Hafa Adai Hotel before getting married in 2005 to a military officer based in Guam.

At the ceremony, Chief Judge Manglona welcomed the newest U.S. citizens of “our great country in this significant event of their life.”

Manglona said she fully understands the sentiment and feeling because she too only became a U.S. citizen by virtue of a federal law.

Manglona said the six newest citizens came from different countries, but as they would walk out from the courtroom after the ceremony they would walk out belonging to one country. “So I welcome you and congratulate you,” the judge said.

After the six recited the Pledge of Allegiance, a video message from President Barack Obama was played.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to call you a fellow citizen of the United States of America. This is now officially your country, your own to protect, to defend and to serve through active and engaged citizenship,” Obama said.