GOP: CNMI Democrats trample on indigenous rights

The CNMI Republican Party has accused some CNMI Democratic Party lawmakers in the House of Representatives of trampling on the constitutional rights of the indigenous people of the Marianas during a recent hearing by the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations.

In a statement issued last Thursday, James Ada, president of the CNMI Republican Party, also called the JGO hearing a “politically motivated campaign to sideline the progress of this [Torres-Palacios] administration” and described it as a “blatant misuse of public funds and Legislature resources.”

“[Rep.] Celina Babauta (D-Saipan) and her co-conspirators in this…has once again trampled on the constitutional rights of the indigenous people of the Marianas,” Ada said. “In denying the significance of language to the Chamorro and Carolinian people, Babauta and her Democratic colleagues have demeaned the intentions of our founders and have given themselves up to a colonial mindset that places the indigenous peoples of these islands as second-class citizens. It is no wonder that the support for this hateful agenda of the Democratic Party is derived from blogs and pundits from Guam and off-island. In trying to stay in the good graces of their party heads and supporters from off-island, the Democratic representatives in the Legislature have disregarded the culture and value of language to the CNMI people.”

Ada was referring to the JGO’s hearing last Wednesday, when Police Lt. Emery Kaipat of the Department of Public Safety’s Boating Safety insisted on testifying in the Carolinian language and on having the questions asked him translated to Carolinian as well. That provoked a lengthy debate at the hearing.

Ada said the hearings are “quite clearly…a spectacle aimed at generating headlines with misleading questions, underlying political motivations, and a concerted attempt to depict hardworking public servants of the CNMI as pawns in their political games. With such bad faith demonstrations over the last several weeks and the tortured attempts by Democrat lawmakers to spin testimonies, is it no wonder that those testifying want a clear understanding of what they are being asked?

“The people of the CNMI will soon see behind the curtains of this political theater and recognize it for what it is: a stunt to shift focus away from the Democrats’ inability to properly progress a legislative agenda on the issues that really matter, in favor of scoring political points at the expense of the Governor and the people of the CNMI who need real solutions.

“The Republican Party stands firmly behind those who seek to uphold their culture and their language against those in the Democrat party who seek to demean our existence and stands proudly behind Governor Ralph DLG. Torres as he actually works for the betterment of all the people of the CNMI.

“This charade has gone long enough. Let’s put an end to the needless expense of millions of taxpayer dollars toward investigating a $0.60 bag of Cheetos that was not even reimbursed. The people of the CNMI are being lied to by their Democratic representatives on the purpose of these ‘investigations.’”

The JGO is looking into the expenditures and travels of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who is a Republican. (Saipan Tribune)