New petition out to put Article 12 on the ballot

A non-profit group launched yesterday a signature drive to place on the ballot a question on Article 12, the NMI Constitution’s provision allowing only persons of Northern Marianas descent to own land in the CNMI.
Signing the petition between now and early June does not mean voting “yes” or “no” to keep or remove Article 12 restrictions, but only to give voters an opportunity in November to decide whether they want a constitutional amendment to remove the mandatory restrictions on owning lands in the CNMI.

Attorney Vincent J. Seman, chairman of the Citizens for Change of Article XII, said yesterday they would like to gather at least 8,000 signatures to ensure that the question will be placed on the ballot.

Once they gather enough number of signatures—subject to the Office of the Attorney General’s certification—voters would then be asked whether they want to keep or remove Article 12’s restrictions.

The group needs to get the signatures of at least 50 percent of the CNMI’s registered voters. As of March 25, data from the Commonwealth Election Commission shows that the number of registered voters is 15,796.

“This initiative gives landowners the option to choose between keeping Article 12 and to be applicable to their property or letting people file a declaration of non-restriction that exempts their property from Article 12 restrictions, in which case you are free to do whatever you want with your property, including selling in an open market for the highest value,” Seman said.

Blood quantum

The initiative also changes the blood quantum to “any degree” to address another reality that many of the CNMI’s current and future generations are falling out of the 25 percent requirement.

Many families in the CNMI now have children at 25 percent NMD blood, the last level of eligibility to own land. These families may not be able to pass on the land to their children.

But while entities such as CCART XII want removal of Article 12 restrictions, there are also others that either want to keep the constitutional provision untouched or want some of its portions changed but not total repeal.

For example, others are open only to the idea of changing the 25 percent NMD blood quantum requirement to own land in the CNMI to 1 percent or any percent.

However, while Article 12 restricts land ownership to those with at least 25 percent NMD blood, an adopted minor child with no NMD blood at all—a child from China or the Philippines, for example—is considered 100 percent NMD.

CCART XII’s Seman announced the planned Article 12 popular initiative during yesterday’s Saipan Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting at Saipan World Resort in Susupe.

He said Article 12 “has served its purpose” and is causing undue hardships on landowners and their families and businesses.

Time to decide

Section 805 of the Covenant agreement between the United States and the NMI requires that land alienation be restricted until 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement. That was meant to protect persons of Northern Marianas descent from unexpected exploitation from aggressive and economically more advanced outside groups, and protect their land ownership as part of their culture and tradition.

After 25 years, the CNMI government may continue to regulate land alienation as provided in the Covenant without mutual consent agreement unless a constitutional amendment is approved to repeal Article 12 of the NMI Constitution. That 25-year period ended on Nov. 3, 2011.

“Our group is taking the lead in trying to put the popular initiative in this November’s ballot to give the people a chance to vote on this issue first and foremost,” Seman told Chamber members and guests.

In an interview, Seman said that the popular initiative takes off from both House vice speaker Frank Dela Cruz’s (Ind-Saipan) legislative initiative, as well as that of Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro’s (R-Saipan).

Ogumoro’s legislative initiative, now in the November ballot, would ask voters whether they approve or not a proposed amendment to Article 12 to allow any U.S. citizen with “at least some degree” of Chamorro or Carolinian blood to be considered a person of Northern Marianas descent and can therefore own land in the CNMI.

Under CCART XII’s initiative, any NMD who owns real property in fee simple within the CNMI may exempt that real property from the Article 12 restrictions by filing a declaration of non-restriction describing the real property with the Commonwealth Recorder’s Office.

The declaration of non-restriction shall describe the real property and state that “a permanent and long-term interest in that real property may be transferred to any person regardless of descent and shall be acknowledged before a notary public or other office authorized by law of the Commonwealth or the place of acknowledgement to take acknowledgements and administer oaths.”

Seman, in his remarks before Chamber members and guests yesterday, said “no one is being forced to sell their land.”

“No one can ever be forced to sell their land. We are not encouraging anyone to sell their land. This petition is to give you the landowner the free choice of what to do with your land. But this does not change the fact that some people have no choice—because it’s their only asset—but to sell their land for urgent matters,” he said, referring to medical emergencies, college tuition, or unexpected loss of jobs, among other things.

He said these are realities happening every day. The initiative, he said, allows people to get the best value for their land if they want to sell it.

“Right now, very few NMDs have the money to purchase property. Those with money, as is happening now, get to dictate the price. Too often, owners are forced to sell well below appraisal price,” he said.

Seman added that oftentimes, people would rather get loans using their land as collateral but Article 12 is too high a risk for banks to extend those kinds of loans so there’s no choice but to sell or be unable to improve their lives.

CCART XII members and officers have started circulating the petition sheets. For more information or to sign on the petition, they can be reached at 483-7000.

Besides attorney Vincent J. Seman as chairman, the other CCART XII officers are Alex Sablan as vice chair and president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce; former senator Frica Pangelinan as secretary, and businessman David M. Sablan Sr. as treasurer.

CCART XII’s active members include DFS Galleria president Marian Aldan-Pierce, former lieutenant governor Diego T. Benavente, Jay Santos, Jesus Elameto, Ben A. Sablan, Herminia Fusco, CNMI historian Don Farrell, Cathy Cachero-Seman, Eloise A. Furey, Maggie Sablan, and Cathy Sablan-Cepeda.

“By signing this petition, you are not voting yes or no on Article 12. You are, however, asking that Article 12 be put on the ballot for all of us and most important, to allow the majority of the present voters to cast their voice on Article 12, a law that will impact them the most as we move on,” Seman added.

The group started working on placing the Article 12 question in the Nov. 6, 2012, ballot but halted the signature drive later when they saw that they won’t be able to gather enough number of signatures and instead set their sight on the 2014 elections.