Political Reviews

Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 michael lujan bevacqua, elizabeth (isa) ua ceallaigh bowman, zaldy dandan, monica c labriola, tiara r na'puti

Polynesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 peter clegg, lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, christina newport, salote talagi, forrest wade young

161 Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018

Reviews of the Federated States in times of catastrophe (ut, 14 Aug of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, and 2017). Palau are not included in this issue. Despite the heated rhetoric, the Trump administration soon sought Guam to deescalate the war talk with a new July 2017 to July 2018 spanned a strategy of engagement, and Trump time of fire and fury for the island met with Kim during a June 2018 of Guam. A war of words erupted peace summit in Singapore. Return- between Donald Trump and North ing from the summit, Air Force One Korean leader Kim Jong-un in August stopped on Andersen Air Force Base 2017, local protests blazed against the in Guam for two hours in the middle US military, and the government was of the night. Trump made no public swamped by crisis and mismanage- appearances or statements, although ment. All of this took place within he did meet briefly with I Maga'låhen the context of an island preparing to Guåhan, Eddie Baza Calvo, for a elect a new Maga'håga or Maga'låhen photo op aboard his plane (gdp, Guåhan (Governor of Guam). 14 June 2018). North Korean threats to Guam as After two terms and seven years a proxy for the United States have of service, Calvo’s term as governor— become commonplace in recent years. marred by both internal and external However, in August 2017, these problems—was set to end in 2018. In threats reached a new level. Following particular, the Trump Tax Cuts and another round of sanctions instituted Jobs Act of 2017 threatened catastro- by the UN Security Council, North phe for Guam’s finances and caused Korea threatened to turn the Pacific heightened discord between the gover- into “a sea of fire” (nyt, 8 Aug 2017). nor and Guam’s legislature. US President Donald Trump promised The Calvo administration had “fire and fury” in response, escalating sought in early 2017 to borrow the war of words and triggering mas- us$225 million for tax refunds (gdp, sive international news coverage (nyt, 6 March 2017). When I Liheslaturan 8 Aug 2017). Guåhan (Guam Legislature) resisted, The people of Guam expressed Calvo called them into special session. a range of responses to the media, His Bill 1-s passed in session, with including fear but sometimes also seven votes in favor and six against; faith in the United States (nyt, 9 Aug however, rules require that a bill be 2017). They asked the rest of the passed with at least eight votes (gdp, world not to let their home be lost in 23 Jan 2018). Calvo sued the legisla- the global power struggle, as Guam ture and, although the Guam Superior too often appears on the map only Court ruled in his favor, the senators

162 political reviews • micronesia 163 stated that they saw the court ruling as taxes at a time when they were seeking only advisory and did not transmit the votes. bill for the governor’s signature (pdn, A proposed sales tax to create 16 July 2018). a dedicated funding source for the This financial squall soon threat- perennially beleaguered Guam Memo- ened to become a full-fledged typhoon rial Hospital became the focal point with the passage of the Trump of senators’ campaigning. In March administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs 2018, I Liheslaturan Guåhan passed a Act of 2017. Guam is linked to the six-month, 25 percent increase of the US federal tax structure and assigns grt (Gross Receipts Tax) for business local income taxes based on federal and set 1 October as the start date for rates. The tax cuts led to projections a 2 percent sales tax increase for island of a massive shortfall in Government residents (pdn, 13 March 2018). of Guam (GovGuam) revenues, with Soon after, Senator Mike San estimates ranging from us$100–160 Nicolas, who had declared his candi- million (pdn, 11 July 2018). The dacy for Guam’s nonvoting delegate Calvo administration called on I to the US House of Representatives, Liheslaturan Guåhan to raise taxes as responded to public dissatisfaction by a means of keeping GovGuam from putting forth a bill to repeal the sales falling off a financial cliff. The Demo- tax. On 2 July, I Liheslaturan Guåhan crat-controlled I Liheslaturan Guåhan voted to repeal the sales tax, receiv- followed a different philosophy: Many ing a veto-proof majority. Governor of its members disagreed with Calvo’s Calvo called the repeal “a dark day financial projections, arguing that, for Guam” as the anticipated sales tax rather than raise taxes, outstanding funds were intended to support the taxes should be collected or nones- Guam Department of Education and sential government staff be furloughed the hospital (gdp, 2 July 2018). As of (pdn, 24 July 2018). the writing of this review, the legisla- Despite the immediate fiscal con- ture continued to deliberate over the cerns that lay ahead, I Liheslaturan government budget. Guåhan had difficulty agreeing on While I Liheslaturan Guåhan proposals to increase revenue, due to endured its own politically motivated it being an election year. With more gridlock, much of the island was than half of its current members either consumed by a heated gubernatorial running for higher office or retir- campaign. An enthusiastic yet highly ing, thirty-nine individuals (twenty divided Democratic Party produced Democrats and nineteen Republicans) four contenders. Former four-term filed paperwork seeking election or Senator Lourdes “Lou” Leon Guer- reelection (gdp, 27 June 2018). The rero, the president of her family’s large fierce debates and politicking led to local bank, along with her running I Liheslaturan Guåhan several times mate, longtime party insider Joshua rescinding its own proposals just days Tenorio, campaigned early and vigor- or even hours after having voted them ously, seeking to establish themselves into the budget. Senators seeking elec- as the front-runners and appeal to tion or reelection were loath to raise youth voters. 164 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019)

By spring 2018, three more Demo- ment and financial crisis that were cratic teams were challenging “Lou exacerbated in Guam by the Trump and Josh.” The popular Senator tax cuts. Frank Blas Aguon Jr chose former US In July, Guam Memorial Hospital Attorney for Guam and the Northern (gmh), the only public hospital on Marianas and former Guam Attorney Guam, was informed by the Joint General Alicia Garrido Limtiaco as his Commission that it had lost its accred- running mate (gdp, 23 April 2018). itation (gdp, 18 July 2018). The Joint Former Governor Carl Gutierrez chose Commission is a nonprofit organiza- former Chief of Police Fred Bordallo tion that provides accreditation for as his running mate (gdp, 23 April more than 20,000 medical programs 2018). Gutierrez was the governor of and institutions in the United States Guam from 1993 to 2003 and, since alone. leaving office, has unsuccessfully tried gmh was put on deaccreditation three times to be returned to the posi- notice in January 2018; proposals by tion of Maga'låhen Guåhan. its administrators to mollify the Joint The final entry was Senator Den- Commission did not succeed. gmh nis Rodriguez, whose running mate was also under the threat of losing its David Cruz had no history of political certification through the Centers for service but earned a six-figure income Medicare and Medicaid Services in teaching jrotc at a high school (pdn, October 2018, unless a series of cor- 31 May 2018). There was some public rective measures were implemented. outcry regarding Cruz’s government The Calvo administration highlighted employment while running for politi- the need to fully fund the hospital cal office. Rodriguez’s close relation- after it lost accreditation. Members ship with a scandal-plagued former of I Liheslaturan Guåhan, including Calvo loyalist also tarnished his Speaker Cruz, responded by arguing image. By July 2018, Lou Leon Guer- that mismanagement by Calvo appoin- rero and Josh Tenorio were considered tees was the problem, not a lack of the Democratic front-runners. funding (gdp, 18 July 2018). Calvo’s two-term lieutenant While Republican gubernatorial governor, Ray Tenorio, and former candidate Ray Tenorio was largely Senator Tony Ada ran unopposed on untouched by the arguments within the Republican ticket. Their cam- the legislature, he soon had his own paign touted the success of the current controversy. On 7 July, the longtime administration in reducing island lieutenant governor made an appear- unemployment, the timely paying of ance at the Guam bbq Block Party in tax refunds (not common in previous the tourist district of Tumon, where he administrations), completing long- allegedly lifted a weapon from a police standing public works projects, and officer on duty (gdp, 9 July 2018). record-setting tourism numbers. But Tenorio, a former police officer their campaign struggled in the first and trainer, stated that he acted in half of 2018 as the administration his capacity as the overseer of public was rocked with numerous scandals, safety; the governor confirmed that including allegations of mismanage- Tenorio held that role at the time political reviews • micronesia 165 of the incident (pnc, 13 July 2018). federal control. The military’s plans Tenorio said he acted, though infor- to build a firing range on the bluffs mally, to correct a police officer whose above Litekyan would prevent people weapon was not properly secured in from visiting for much of the year its holster, causing potential public and would threaten several endan- danger. He described briefly touching gered native species of animals and and removing the weapon as a “teach- plants. The group Prutehi Litekyan: able moment” for the officer (gdp, 10 Save Ritidian (pl: sr) was formed in July 2018). 2017 to resist the environmental and Outcry over the incident was cultural threat. pl: sr has met with immediate and widespread. Given significant success, packing the public that it was an election year, it was hearing room of the Guam Legisla- not surprising that Tenorio’s political ture on multiple occasions in support opponents, as led by junior Demo- of anti-buildup resolutions (gdp, cratic Senator Telena Nelson, were 20 Aug 2017). especially vocal. Some called for the On 23 September 2017, the youth lieutenant governor’s arrest or alleged group Manhoben Para Guåhan (Youth that he was drunk, had committed for Guam) organized a demonstra- assault, or had committed a felony. tion outside the gates of Andersen Air Tenorio publicly apologized for the Force Base, very near Litekyan. Joined incident and said that the “teachable by community members including moment” was his (mv, 11 July 2018). Harold Cruz, the chief of staff for The Office of the Attorney General of Senator Wil Castro, and Iraq War Guam opened an investigation into the veteran Senator Fernando Esteves, the lieutenant governor’s actions in July youth formed a human chain to block 2018 and declined to comment “so the front gate to the base for twenty as not to politicize the investigation” minutes in protest of the military’s (pdn, 12 July 2018). plans. They shouted chants of “Hita Long-standing tensions between i taotao tåno'!” (“We are the people the local Guam community and the of the land”) and asked that the base US federal government manifested commander come hear their concerns. over the past year, primarily around Cruz was arrested for his role in the two issues: US plans to increase its protest and is currently running for military presence on Guam and senator in I Liheslaturan Guåhan threats to the Chamorro Land Trust. (pdn, 23 Sept 2018). In 2017, public outcry increased In October 2017, a series of solidar- over threats to the environmental ity events took place in Guam between refuge and cultural site of Litekyan Prutehi Litekyan and the No Helipad as a result of the US military’s plans Takae Resident Society of Okinawa. to build a firing range. The site of an Two activists from Okinawa vis- ancient Chamorro village and ances- ited Guam, gave presentations, and tral family lands that was previously screened documentaries in order to seized by the military, Litekyan has help form a greater bond between been a US National Fish and Wild- island-based demilitarization move- life Refuge since 1993 and is under ments (pdn, 25 Oct 2017). 166 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019)

Frustrated with the refusal of In 2018, reports surfaced about the US federal government to listen mismanagement within the Chamorro to the people of Guam on the mili- Land Trust, overshadowing the federal tary buildup issue, two leaders in lawsuit. Although approximately pl: sr—high-school teacher Sabina 2,400 land requests have been ful- Flores Perez and university instructor filled, about 4,700 more remain; some Kelly Marsh-Taitano—declared their people have waited more than twenty candidacy for I Liheslaturan Guåhan years (pdn, 2 May 2018). Relatives of in 2018. The group also considered Chamorro Land Trust employees and filing a lawsuit to prevent construction board members appear to have been from taking place on the bases but allowed to skip ahead of others in line, waited to hear the outcome of another and some officials, including Senator lawsuit in the Commonwealth of the Régine Biscoe Lee, were implicated in Northern Mariana Islands regarding possible illegal lease transfers (gdp, US military plans for the northern 26 April 2018). islands of Tinian and Pågan (mv, Powerful three-decade Arch- 17 July 2018). bishop of Guam Anthony Sablan As activists sought to protect sacred Apuron was replaced in 2016 after Chamorro lands from federal inter- a number of scandals involving the ference, a GovGuam agency faced development of a new sect within similar threats. Following the massive the church, possible mismanagement US military increase on Guam in the of church assets, and, most shock- wake of World War II, thousands of ingly to the small island community, Chamorro families were displaced many lawsuits alleging the sexual in order to build large air force and abuse of children by priests on Guam navy bases in the north and south of (Bevacqua and Bowman 2018). More Guam. The Chamorro Land Trust was than a dozen of these lawsuits named implemented in 1995 to provide land Apuron himself as the abuser. to landless Chamorros as a means of In March 2018, the disgraced righting this historical wrong. archbishop faced a private canonical In September 2017, the US Depart- trial in the Vatican as well. Guam’s ment of Justice filed a lawsuit against huge Catholic community received the Government of Guam, alleging word that Apuron had been convicted that the Chamorro Land Trust vio- of certain misdeeds; however, the lated the Fair Housing Act (pdn, 28 proceedings were relatively secretive Sept 2017). The attorney general of and little was revealed, particularly Guam, Elizabeth Barrett Anderson, about his potential sentence. Apuron joined Maga'låhen Guåhan Calvo and announced he would appeal his con- I Liheslaturan Guåhan to defend the victions (ut, 14 June 2018). Chamorro Land Trust (pdn, 9 Oct The Archdiocese of Hagåtña cur- 2017). Congresswoman Madeleine rently faces about 170 accusations Bordallo sought to offer solutions of sexual abuse committed against in the US Congress to legitimize the children by Catholic priests on Guam trust but no concrete action was taken (pdn, 1 June 2018). Ironically, one (pdn, 4 Oct 2017). of Apuron’s most prominent critics, political reviews • micronesia 167

“Jungle Watch” blogger Tim Rohr, large benefit to Guam’s economy from faced his own publicity scandal in tourism. For example, Koreans spent 2018, when his estranged wife and far less on average than Japanese children accused him in court of visitors, who tended to spend nearly family violence and abuse, including us$600 each on Guam outside of their the sexual abuse of his daughter as a hotel and plane tickets (pdn, 18 April child (kuam, 9 May 2018). 2018). According to exit surveys con- Tourism arrivals reached historic ducted by the Guam Visitors Bureau highs in 2017 and 2018, but prob- in March 2018, Korean visitors lematic clouds were gathering in the spent roughly the same as Japanese distance. While 2017 was a year of visitors on hotels and transportation record highs at 1.56 million visitors, but spent about us$400 less on gifts 2018 was a year of major changes in and souvenirs while on island (pdn, the market (gdp, 2 Jan 2018). The 18 April 2018). two traditional “pillars” of Guam’s The Guam Museum, long plagued economy, the military and tourism, by delays and controversies, finally have long been naturally opposed, revealed its only permanent exhibit, and visitors from Japan, long the I Hinanao-ta (Our Journey), on largest sector of Guam’s successful 3 May 2018, almost four years after tourism industry, dropped significantly it was originally scheduled to open in the wake of Trump and Kim’s war to the public. A series of last-minute of words. and internally controversial changes Overall, Japanese visitors decreased from a hastily formed technical review by 16.8 percent in 2017. As an committee in early 2017 had pushed example, the 35,101 Japanese tour- back the opening for another year. ists who visited Guam in June 2018 Still, Guam had not had a functioning represented a decrease of 13,870 museum for more than twenty years, (39.5 percent, or over a third) com- and its opening was a point of civic pared to the same total in June 2017 pride (pnc, 4 May 2018). (gdp, 23 July 2018). Five years ago, in In June 2018, a bitter, decades-long June 2013, tourist arrivals from Japan struggle to win some sort of repara- were nearly double that. Perhaps tions for Chamorros that suffered in response to tensions between the during the Japanese occupation of United States and China, tourists from Guam during World War II finally mainland China also dropped precipi- received acknowledgment from the tously, by 43 percent (pdn, 30 July US federal government. Still, the 2018). convoluted way in which this chapter Opportunities seemed to be open- of Chamorro history was closed only ing up from other East Asian coun- reinforced the island’s marginal status tries, as South Korean tourist numbers as a US colony. on Guam increased by 25.6 percent, After signing peace treaties follow- achieving record highs in 2017 (gdp, ing World War II, the United States 23 July 2018). However, the tourists assumed all of Japan’s future obliga- coming to Guam spent less than in tions in terms of war reparations. the past, reducing the traditionally Chamorros, like others across Asia 168 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) and the Pacific, suffered greatly during ists included no indigenous Chamor- Japanese occupation. ros, no women, and no candidates Chamorros long sought repara- with any substantive connection to tions from the United States for Guam or Micronesia, although Guam their suffering, but for decades the law requires that the president of the issue failed to be addressed in the US university have knowledge and under- Congress. Sometimes this failure was standing of Guam and its region. due to conflicts within GovGuam The search committee, which had over appropriate compensation, other paid us$100,000 to an off-island times because of resistance from the agency to vet and rank its candidates, US Congress itself. On 23 December defended their selections, despite the 2016, President Obama signed into fact that one of their finalists had left law the Guam World War II Loyalty both of his previous two positions Recognition Act. This law, coming in disgrace (gdp, 23 May 2018). A seventy-two years after the end of the petition that garnered thousands of war in Guam, was a bittersweet form signatures—including from university of closure. Although it provided com- students—called on I Liheslaturan pensation ranging from us$15,000 to Guåhan to conduct oversight in the us$25,000, depending on the type of matter but was ignored (gdp, 4 June suffering experienced, only those still 2018). Thomas Krise, a retired US living as of the date of the act’s sign- Air Force officer and former president ing were eligible (gdp, 28 July). The of Pacific Lutheran University, was overwhelming majority of Chamorros eventually selected. Although Krise and their descendants, therefore, were had no knowledge or understanding barred from the program. of Guam or Micronesia, he argued Furthermore, the funding source that his scholarship on the Caribbean for these reparations was a source of gave him an “appreciation” for island much local ire, as any compensation issues (pdn, 11 June 2018). would come from monies that had In 2018, Guam said farewell to already been set aside for GovGuam to former Lieutenant Governor of Guam receive (gdp, 13 Dec 2017). In essence, Eddie Diego Reyes (1983–1987), who after decades of inaction, GovGuam, passed away at the age of eighty-eight. not the US Congress, would pay war He had been elected lieutenant gov- reparations. The window for applica- ernor alongside Ricardo J Bordallo. tions closed on 20 June 2018, and Prior to that, Reyes distinguished it is estimated that fewer than three himself in the US military during the thousand claims were submitted (gdp, Vietnam War era, retiring as a colonel 20 June 2018). in the air force (gdp, 16 April 2018). In 2017, the University of Guam Guam also lost Chamorro-rights announced the imminent retirement of activist Ron Teehan at age sixty-three. its longtime president, former US con- Teehan had been a tireless advocate gressman from Guam and Chamorro for indigenous land rights, working rights activist Robert Underwood. The with both the Chamorro Land Trust search for his replacement was marred and the Guam Landowners Associa- by controversy. The initial list of final- tion. As a member of the group opi-r political reviews • micronesia 169

(Organization of People for Indige- presented to their lands, waters, and nous Rights), he and others pushed for other resources. The resolution passed Chamorro people to define themselves in December 2017 with ninety-three as indigenous in international and votes in favor, eight against, and sixty- local contexts. In 1982, he was one of five abstentions. The United States the first Chamorros to travel to New voted against the resolution, arguing York to testify on behalf of Guam at (incorrectly, according to the United the United Nations (pdn, 5 Feb 2018). Nations’ own mandates) that Guam’s In response to the bellicose rheto- political status was solely a domestic ric around North Korean threats and issue with no international obligations various forms of federal interference, (gdp, 23 June 2018). a historic delegation from Guam was The decolonization conversation organized to travel to testify before the in Guam continued to grow in 2018, UN General Assembly Fourth Com- in particular with a historic forum mittee. The Guam Commission on among the candidates seeking to Decolonization and the decolonization become Guam’s next governor in May outreach group Independent Guåhan 2018. Organized by a cohort of public jointly organized the October 2017 administration master’s students at the trip to New York. University of Guam, the forum was The Commission on Decoloniza- titled “One Guam: Towards Decoloni- tion sent elected leaders I Maga'låhen zation” and was attended by close to Guåhan Calvo, Senator Fernando 900 people (pdn, 9 May 2018). Esteves, Senator Therese Terlaje, and Two of the candidates, former Senator Telena Nelson. Independent Governor Gutierrez and Senator Guåhan sent community members Frank Aguon, made clear their prefer- from Guam, as well as from the ences for Guam’s political future, Chamorro diaspora in the United arguing that independence was the States. Overall, the testimony pro- best option. The other candidates vided a unified message, informing did not indicate preferences but all the United Nations about the state of promised their sincere support to affairs in Guam and highlighting the continue education on the issue until need for the international commu- a plebiscite for Guam’s native inhabit- nity to assist in pressuring the United ants could take place. Senator Dennis States to decolonize its colony. As Rodriguez, the son of Filipino immi- Senator Nelson testified, “We have no grants to Guam, made an impassioned ability to vote, no ability to govern plea to others who, like himself, were ourselves, and, as it stands, until the not classed as native inhabitants of United States says so, we have no the island. He asked that they join voice” (pdn, 8 Oct 2017). him in supporting self-determination Last-minute lobbying from the for indigenous Chamorro people Guam delegation resulted in the (gdp, 9 May 2018). passing of a resolution on Guam michael lujan bevacqua, containing critical language about the elizabeth isa ua ceallaigh rights of the Chamorro people and bowman, and tiara r the dangers that US militarization na'puti 170 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019)

References RMI’s first Compact of Free Associa- tion (cofa) with the United States in Bevacqua, Michael Lujan, and Elizabeth 1986 (Walsh and Heine 2011). His Ua Ceallaigh Bowman. 2018. Micronesia government posts spanned decades in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017: Guam. The Contempo- and included senator for Mājro and rary Pacific 30 (1): 136–144. Kuwajleen atolls, minister of finance and foreign affairs, ambassador to gdp, Guam Daily Post. Tamuning, Guam. the United Nations, and RMI climate http://www.postguam.com ambassador (mij, 1 Sept 2017). kuam, kuam.com: Guam’s News Net- DeBrum was a staunch advocate for work. Dededo. http://www.kuam.com justice for the survivors of the after- mv, Marianas Variety. Monday–Friday math of sixty-seven nuclear tests con- newspaper, Guam edition. Harmon, ducted by the United States on Pikinni Guam. http://www.mvariety.com/ and Ānewetak atolls. He sought to nyt, New York Times. http://www secure a world free of nuclear weap- .nytimes.com ons and in 2014 filed a lawsuit on behalf of the RMI aimed at forcing the pdn, Pacific Daily News. Hagåtña, Guam. world’s nuclear powers to reengage in http://www.guampdn.com nuclear disarmament talks (mij, 1 Sept pnc, Pacific News Center. Hagåtña, Guam. 2017). DeBrum was also a leader in http://www.pacificnewscenter.com the movement to reverse the effects of ut, USA Today. McLean, Virginia. climate change and was instrumental http://www.usatoday.com in the passage of the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In addition to being nominated for a Marshall Islands Nobel Peace Prize, deBrum was the For the Republic of the Marshall recipient of several awards including Islands (RMI), the period under the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation review saw the passing of a number Distinguished Peace Leadership Award of public servants, community mem- in 2012 and a posthumous Lifetime bers, and advocates, including several Achievement Award from the gov- trailblazers in nuclear and climate ernment of Germany in 2017 (mij, activism, advocacy, and scholarship. 25 Aug, 3 Nov 2017). Tony deBrum devoted his life’s work Weeks before deBrum’s passing in to the advancement of the Marshall late August 2017, the Marshall Islands Islands and to procuring nuclear and lost sitting Naṃdik Atoll Senator and climate justice for Marshall Island- Minister Mattlan (Matt) Zackhras. ers. After serving on the Congress of Prior to his service as President Micronesia and the Marshall Islands’ Hilda Heine’s minister in assistance, first Constitutional Convention in the Zackhras’s portfolio during his four 1970s, deBrum played a key role in terms in office included the ministries securing independence from the Trust of public works and of resources and Territory of the Pacific Islands and in development. Zackhras was instru- the negotiations that resulted in the mental in securing funding for local political reviews • micronesia 171 and national sustainable development poration in the 1970s, Kiste inspired projects and was recognized for his scores of Pacific Islands scholars as a work promoting sustainable black professor and director of the Center pearl farming, the formation of the for Pacific Islands Studies from 1978 Namdrik [Naṃdik] Copra Coopera- to 2002 (Lal 2004). tive, and the RMI’s first virgin coconut Among the many other traditional oil processing operation (mij, 11 Aug leaders and prominent community 2017). In a November 2017 special members who died during this period election, Naṃdik voters opted to keep were Mājro aḷap (lineage head) Newi Zackhras’s Nitijeḷā (Parliament) seat Nathan; Kuwajleen aḷap and Consti- in the family by electing his brother tutional Convention delegate Stephen Wisely Zackhras to succeed him (mij, “Kodri” Dribo; and Castle Bravo 17 Nov 2017). nuclear test survivor Tempo Alfred. The RMI also lost three longtime Sr Dorothy Nook, the sole Marshal- nuclear advocates during this period. lese Catholic nun who dedicated much Lemeyo Abon was one of the last of her career to enhancing educational surviving ri-Roñḷap (ri- means person/ opportunities as principal of Marshall people of/from) to have lived through Islands High School, president of the the fallout of the Castle Bravo hydro- College of the Marshall Islands, and gen bomb test on Pikinni Atoll on director of Catholic Schools in Micro- 1 March 1954. Abon recounted her nesia, passed away on 5 June 2018 experiences in books, films, newspaper (mij, 8 June 2018). articles, and a statement to the United As noted in last year’s review for Nations Human Rights Council in the RMI (LaBriola 2018), the fourth 2012; she died in February 2018. Constitutional Convention (Con- A resident of the Marshall Islands Con) was convened in April 2017 to for almost fifty years, Bill Graham consider more than twenty prospective devoted much of his career to seeking amendments to the RMI Constitu- justice and compensation for the sur- tion. Proposals included the direct vivors of US nuclear testing. Graham election of the president, revised served as public advocate for the RMI eligibility requirements for RMI citi- Nuclear Claims Tribunal for more zenship and Nitijeḷā candidacy, and than twenty years and had recently the future status of Ānen-kio Atoll been appointed to the newly estab- (Wake Island). Following a recess and lished RMI National Nuclear Com- several public forums, the Con-Con mission. Graham died in Honolulu reconvened on 10 July 2017 to discuss on 1 March 2018, the sixty-fourth and vote on the proposals. Of these, anniversary of the Castle Bravo test Proposal 4, which would have shifted (mij, 9 March 2018). Nuclear scholar the responsibility for the election of and advocate Dr Robert (Bob) Kiste the president from the Nitijeḷā to passed away on 28 November 2017. the general electorate, was the most In addition to publishing The Bikin- controversial (RMI Constitutional ians: A Study in Forced Migration in Convention 2017b). Despite its popu- 1974 and working as a consultant for larity, delegates rejected Proposal 4 on the Micronesian Legal Service Cor- 18 December 2017. Of the 30 votes 172 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) required for passage, the proposal on health and labor. In the area of garnered only 23 in the affirmative, health, the Health Fund (Amendment) with 13 delegates voting against the Act 2018 gives more authority to the measure and 10 others not present RMI Medical Referral Board in deter- (mij, 22 Dec 2017). The outcome mining when a patient should be sent sparked an uproar on social media, off island for medical treatment (RMI most notably in the Facebook group Nitijeḷā 2018b), while the Senior Citi- Kewan Jela, an online forum for dis- zens Act 2018 seeks to enhance access cussing current events in the RMI and to medical care for the nation’s elderly the diaspora (Kewan Jela 2018). by mandating a 25 percent monthly Although that proposal failed to discount on some services related move forward, convention delegates to medical treatment (RMI Nitijeḷā approved several others. Proposal 2018c). Meanwhile, in the area of 19 (36 to 0) would add a subsection employment, the Marshall Islands to article IV, section 4 of the RMI Employment Equal Opportunity Act Constitution requiring any quali- 2017 seeks to ensure workers’ rights fied candidate for the Nitijeḷā to be by requiring that any entity doing a natural-born citizen and have land business in the RMI “offer all employ- rights by birth (RMI Constitutional ees the same employee benefits,” Convention 2017c). Proposals 1 and including medical and life insurance 22 (36 to 0) would amend article XI, and retirement and pension benefits, section 2(b), making it more difficult and provides that any employer who for foreign nationals to obtain RMI fails to offer these benefits equally citizenship (RMI Constitutional be subject to a penalty of up to Convention 2017a, 2017e). Proposal us$50,000 (RMI Nitijeḷā 2017b). 21 (35 to 0) would amend article IV, In what was one of the speediest section 2(1) to officially add Ānen- approval processes in recent memory, kio Atoll (Wake Island) to an RMI the Nitijeḷā passed the Declaration and electoral district (RMI Constitutional Issuance of the Sovereign Currency Convention 2017d), thus strengthen- Act 2018 into law on 26 February ing RMI efforts to assert traditional 2018, despite less than a week of rights despite US control of the atoll debate, warnings by Attorney Gen- since 1898 (Johnson 2016). These eral Filimon Manoni and Banking and other proposals approved by the Commissioner Sultan Korean, and requisite two-thirds of convention an expression of concern by Bank of delegates will move on to a referen- Marshall Islands President Patrick dum later in 2018. Proposals must be Chen (mij, 2 March 2018). The legisla- approved by two-thirds of the elector- tion makes the RMI the first country ate to become constitutional amend- to “declare and issue a digital decen- ments (RMI Constitution 1979). tralized currency based on blockchain As convention delegates debated technology as legal tender” (RMI proposed amendments, the RMI Nitijeḷā 2018a). Its passage clears Nitijeḷā continued its work of govern- the way for the RMI and its Israel- ing and debating legislative bills, with based partner Neema to issue up to most of the acts that passed focused 24 million units of cryptocurrency, political reviews • micronesia 173 dubbed the “Sovereign” or “sov” for sparked concern within the Council short, half of which will be floated for of Irooj (Council of Chiefs) and anger worldwide consumption during the and dissent on the part of off-island initial coin offering (ico). Kuwajleen Marshall Islanders, who voiced their Atoll senator David Paul said the cur- disapproval on the Kewan Jela forum rency offers the RMI an opportunity (LaBriola 2018; Kewan Jela 2018). To to earn millions of dollars simply by address these concerns, senators intro- making it legal tender, and without duced the Election and Referendum investing any money into the project (Amendment) Act 2017, which would (mij, 2 March 2018). The act requires “repeal and restore the postal voting that proceeds from the sale of RMI system for persons residing outside of sov units be allocated to several trust the Republic” (RMI Nitijeḷā 2017a, funds created prior to the ico, includ- 4). The bill would revert the postal ing the RMI National Trust Fund, voting system to its pre-2016 status the RMI Green Climate Fund, the by eliminating language restricting RMI Nuclear Legacy and Health Care eligibility to vote by mail. In a speech Fund, and the Resident-Citizen sov before the Nitijeḷā, former Kuwajleen Allocation Fund (RMI Nitijeḷā 2018a). Atoll Senator Jeban Riklon suggested Despite warnings from International that the elimination of postal voting Monetary Fund (imf) staff that the was a violation of the RMI Constitu- “potential benefits from the issuance tion and that off-island RMI citizens would not be large enough to com- who contribute to the economy should pensate for the potential costs,” and a be afforded the same “fundamental recommendation “that the authorities rights” as on-island citizens (mij, 20 seriously reconsider the issuance of the Oct 2017). Other senators countered sov,” President Hilda Heine, Senator with concerns about the costs and Paul, and other RMI leaders remain logistics associated with the adminis- committed to the scheme (imf 2018). tration of postal voting and about past In October 2017, 12 of the incidents of fraud (mij, 20 Oct 2017). Nitijeḷā’s 33 senators introduced As senators and Con-Con delegates another controversial bill to address debated proposed legislation and public outrage over the termination of constitutional amendments, local and postal voting by RMI citizens residing national leadership grappled with abroad (mij, 20 Oct 2017). In 2016, financial concerns related to the Mar- the Nitijeḷā had passed an amendment shall Islands Trust Fund (RMI Trust to the Election and Referendum Act Fund) and the Resettlement Trust “eliminating the postal voting system Fund for the People of Bikini [Pikinni] for persons residing outside of the (kbe Trust Fund). (kbe stands for Kili/ Republic” (RMI Nitijeḷā 2016, 5). Bikini/Ejit [Kōle/Pikinni/Ājej], with Approved by a slim margin (13 to 12), Kōle Island and Ājej Island being the the act aimed to “allow only those two longest-standing Pikinni resettle- citizens who pay taxes and are resi- ment sites.) The Marshall Islands dents of the country to choose their Trust Fund was established in 2005 as national and local representatives” part of the amended US-RMI Com- (LaBriola 2018, 148). The legislation pact of Free Association (cofa), to be 174 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) financed by the US and the RMI with from us$5 to 7 million and are used the aim of supporting RMI economic to support the infrastructure and self-sufficiency after compact fund- resettlement needs of ri-Pikinni living expires in 2023 (US Department ing on Kōle Island and Ājej Island, of State 2003). In October 2017, Mājro Atoll. These include govern- it was discovered that nearly us$1 ment operations and salaries, hous- million had been illegally withdrawn ing construction and repairs, food, from RMI Trust Fund accounts then and education (Niedenthal 2001, overseen by the US-based State Street 187–189). The fund reached its peak Bank and Trust Company (State at us$129 million but was valued at Street) (mij, 3 Nov 2017). On learn- us$67 million in September 2017 as ing of the withdrawals, RMI officials the result of severe losses incurred in called on State Street “to seize and the 2008 global financial crisis (mij, stop any and all further activity with 8 Dec 2017, 16 Feb 2018). Since the the” affected accounts (mij, 20 Oct fund’s inception, the United States has 2017). Investigations revealed that overseen expenditures, with the kbe the transfers occurred as the result local council and trust fund liaison of lapses in protocols on the part of preparing the kbe annual budget in State Street, which had restored the consultation with the US Department total unaudited value of the fund to of the Interior (usdoi) Office of Insu- more than us$350 million by the lar Affairs. To keep the fund solvent, end of September 2017 (mij, 3 Nov annual allocations were based on its 2017). In July 2017, the Trust Fund performance over the three previous Committee initiated a transfer of fund years (mij, 8 Dec 2017); as a result, custody from State Street to Vanguard the kbe budget has varied over the Institutional Advisory Services—a years from between us$5–12 million shift that had been planned prior to depending on fund performance. the breach. At the time of writing, More recently, annual allocations have no further information was available remained steady at us$6–7 million. regarding the person(s) responsible for In August 2017, the kbe Local the withdrawals, although no mem- Government Council passed a resolu- bers of the RMI government or any of tion seeking to terminate US oversight the account trustees or administrators of the kbe Trust Fund (kbe Local appear to have been directly involved Government 2017). Soon after, kbe (mij, 20 Oct 2017). Mayor Anderson Jibas issued a letter The kbe Trust Fund also under- to Isaac Edwards, senior majority went a dramatic transition. The counsel for the Energy and Natural fund was established by the United Resources Committee of the US Sen- States through legislation to support ate, requesting to end US involvement cleanup and resettlement efforts and in kbe budgeting, including Office provide reparations to the people of of Insular Affairs veto power, and to Pikinni Atoll to compensate for losses allow the kbe Local Government to incurred as the result of US nuclear deal directly with its trustee bank. testing (Niedenthal 2001, 187–189). The requested “rescript,” or change Annual expenditures typically range of oversight, would give the kbe political reviews • micronesia 175

Local Government full control over usdoi for relinquishing control decisions concerning the kbe annual without congressional involvement budget; declare void any existing (Washington Post, 5 Feb 2018). policies limiting the authority of kbe Murkowski’s concern was heightened leadership to determine the future following a us$11 million withdrawal resettlement of Pikinni Atoll; elimi- from the fund just days after the nate the position of trust fund liaison; rescript (mij, 8 Dec 2017). In an effort authorize the kbe Local Council to to reimpose limits on future withdraw- provide its annual budget to the usdoi als, Murkowski introduced US Senate for reference only; eliminate the right Bill S.2182 to cap annual expenditures of the kbe local government trustee to at “5 percent of the principal of the question drawdown requests; and give Fund, based on the average market the kbe mayor and his or her designee value of the Fund for the previ- sole authority to authorize withdraw- ous 5 fiscal years,” with the goal of als (kbe Local Government 2017). assuring the community’s eventual On 16 November 2017, Assistant resettlement (US Senate 2017). For- Secretary for Insular Affairs Doug mer kbe Mayor Alson Kelen shared Domenech notified Jibas of the deci- Murkowski’s concern, noting that the sion by the usdoi to accept “the decision to rescript authority should Rescript as a valid amendment to the have involved the entire Pikinni com- 1988 Amended Resettlement Trust munity (mij, 8 Dec 2017). Mayor Jibas Fund Agreement” and to recognize responded that, as Pikinni’s elected the mayor and kbe Local Council as leaders, he and the council are solely solely responsible for the fund (usdoi responsible for how the fund is spent. 2017). The letter noted that the usdoi The rescript and ensuing us$11 would “never again interact with” million drawdown sparked a flurry of the kbe mayor or kbe Local Council high-level activity between December “on any aspect of the Resettlement 2017 and February 2018, including Trust Fund, including the possibility a visit to the RMI by a team led by of the Department’s seeking additional Doug Domenech and Director of the appropriations” (Domenech 2017, Office of Insular Affairs Nikolao Pula; 2). The only exceptions would be the a US Senate Committee on Energy and interior secretary’s ongoing authority Natural Resources hearing convened to use discretion in approving income- by committee chair Lisa Murkowski; generating projects on Kōle and and a congressional delegation to Ājej islands and to report to the US Kuwajleen Atoll, also led by Senator Congress on the future funding needs Murkowski. The 6 February 2018 US of Pikinni Atoll one year before the Senate committee hearing included tes- completion of the resettlement pro- timony by Doug Domenech, Anderson gram (Domenech 2017, 2). Jibas, and Jack Niedenthal. Mayor Within days of the decision, US Jibas maintained that kbe “elected Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican, leaders are best suited to determine Alaska), who chairs the US Senate how [kbe Trust Fund] monies are to committee that oversees Marshall be used” and that the proposed US Islands policy and funding, rebuked Senate bill would take kbe “back to 176 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) a colonialist and paternalistic sys- 315–316). The new agreement is tem that says the bureaucrats in a significant for the landowner-residents Federal agency know what is best for of Ebjā, where an estimated 11,000 the people of [Pikinni]” (Jibas state- people live in crowded conditions with ment published in mij, 16 Feb 2018). limited access to fertile land for farm- Niedenthal countered that the rescript ing and gathering food crops (RMI represents a dereliction of duty by the Office of the President 2011). United States to the people of Pikinni, Also during this period, Kuwajleen whose lives continue to be impacted Atoll leaders negotiated to reverse by the aftermath of US nuclear testing a decision by DynCorp Interna- (US Senate 2018). To this, the editors tional—which took over operations of the Marshall Islands Journal sug- for US Army Garrison, Kwajalein gested that Pikinni leadership “may [Kuwajleen] Atoll (usag-ka) in March have unwittingly fallen into a trap,” 2018—to cut the wages of Marshal- allowing the United States to use lese employees by up to 60 percent. the rescript to “inexorably [wash] When affected employees threatened its hands of its nuclear weapons test to go on strike, RMI and Kuwajleen legacy in the Marshall Islands” (mij, Atoll leadership met with DynCorp, 22 Dec 2017). base commander Colonel James Several key developments in the DeOre, and US Ambassador Karen areas of land access, wages, infra- Stewart, and DynCorp agreed to structure, health, and nuclear justice maintain or raise wages for the major- had a bearing on the lives of Marshall ity of Marshallese employees (mij, Islanders at home and in the diaspora 12 Jan 2018). Meanwhile, a reverse during this period. A July 2017 agree- osmosis water facility, a renovated ment between the RMI and the US boat ramp and commercial dock, Army Space and Missile Defense Com- seawall improvements, three Wellness mand gave Kuwajleen Atoll residents Center Gardens, and basketball and periodic access to islands in the atoll’s tennis courts were either completed or mid-corridor region “for farming, fish- underway on Ebjā. These and other ing, and burial during periods when projects promise to enhance quality of there are no missile tests” (mij, 21 July life and access to services for the Ebjā 2017). The US Army has overseen community (mij, 20 Oct 2018). intercontinental anti-ballistic missile The RMI faced several challenges in testing and other operations at Kuwa- the area of health during this period. jleen since the 1960s and in 1965 Among these were a mumps outbreak relocated residents of the central two- that saw over 1,400 cases in the sec- thirds of the atoll to seventy-eight-acre ond half of 2017 (mij, 13 Oct 2017); Ebjā (Ebeye) Island to create a missile more than 1,100 cases of conjunctivi- target in the Kuwajleen lagoon. Access tis between December 2017 and May to the area has since been severely 2018 (mij, 18 May 2018); and dengue restricted, and landowners have peri- fever and meningococcal meningitis odically staged protests demanding outbreaks on several outer islands access to and compensation for the use (mij, 27 April 2018). Faced with of their land (Walsh and Heine 2011, some of the highest tuberculosis (tb) political reviews • micronesia 177 rates in the Pacific Islands, the Min- nuclear justice and coordinate national istry of Health and Human Services efforts related to nuclear testing and launched a massive tb screening effort policy (RMI Nitijeḷā 2017c), the on Mājro Atoll in May 2018, with ngo Radiation Exposure Awareness the goal of testing 100 percent of the Crusaders for Humanity–Marshall atoll’s population, or approximately Islands (reach-mi) expanded efforts 26,000 people (mij, 27 April, 18 May to strengthen civil society engage- 2018). In the first week, more than 10 ments with nuclear issues through a percent of the 1,400 people screened partnership with the regional ngo tested positive for tb, and at least Raising Pacific Voices (mij, 27 Aug 150 people were receiving treatment 2017). In March 2018, activist and at the close of June 2018. Encourag- poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner and film- ing health developments included the maker Dan Lin traveled to Ānewetak certification of the Marshall Islands Atoll to produce a short film based Red Cross Society by the Interna- on Jetñil-Kijiner’s poem “Anointed” tional Federation of the Red Cross in (Lin and Jetñil-Kijiner 2018). The March 2018 (mij, 30 March 2018); result is a compelling audiovisual the near completion of the first phase portrait of the social, economic, and of the new Mājro hospital (mij, 1 June environmental legacies of US nuclear 2018); and the extension of publicly testing on Ānewetak, site of forty-four funded health care to low-income nuclear tests conducted by the United Marshall Islanders residing in Wash- States and home of the Runit Dome, a ington State (mij, 6 April 2018). storage unit for approximately 73,000 In a short film tribute to his life and cubic meters of radioactive material life’s work entitled Papa’s Last Voyage built over what was once Runit Island (2017), Tony deBrum invoked a (Smith-Norris 2016, 36–37). Viewers Marshallese proverb, calling Marshall learn that 122 nations voted in favor Islanders and the global community of the United Nations Treaty on the to action: “An piliñliñ koba, kōṃṃan Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in lometo. The ocean is made up of July 2017. Among the nations that drops.˙ Each one of us is responsible did not vote for the treaty were the for a drop of ocean. If you take care of world’s nine nuclear-armed nations, that drop, if he takes care of his drop, all named in the 2014 lawsuit filed on and she takes care of her drop, we can behalf of the RMI by Tony deBrum take care of the world.” In the crusade (LaBriola 2016). While the RMI voted for nuclear justice, the RMI along in favor of the treaty in July 2017, it with several nongovernmental organi- has thus far failed to sign on to it due zations (ngos) and activists nurtured to concerns about potential conflicts various “drops” of policy, regional with the US-RMI Compact of Free cooperation, and art to advance Association. Time will tell whether the cause. While the RMI staffed President Hilda Heine’s government the National Nuclear Commission, will contribute to the care of this par- established by the Nitijeḷā in March ticular drop of ocean—and in turn the 2017 “to develop a detailed strategy world—with its formal approval. and plan of action for pursuing” monica c labriola 178 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019)

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XI, Section 2(1)(b). http://rmi-concon.org/ RMI Office of the President. 2011. cms/proposals/category/2-elmokot-ko.html RMI Census of Population and Housing: ?download=21:elmokot-no-22&start=20 Summary and Highlights. Economic Policy, [accessed 5 Aug 2018] Planning, and Statistics Office, 12 Feb. https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/ RMI Nitijeḷā. 2016. Election and migrated/oia/reports/upload/RMI-2011 Referenda (Amendment)(1) Act 2016. -Census-Summary-Report-on-Population https://rmiparliament.org/cms/images/ -and-Housing.pdf [accessed 7 Aug 2018] LEGISLATION/BILLS/20/2016-06/ ElectionandReferendaAmendment1 Smith-Norris, Martha. 2016. Domination Act2016.pdf [accessed 27 July 2017] and Resistance: The United States and the Marshall Islands during the Cold War. ———. 2017a. Election and Referendum Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. (Amendment) Act 2017. https:// rmiparliament.org/cms/images/ US Department of State. 2003. Compact of LEGISLATION/BILLS/2017/2017-0059/ Free Association: Agreement between the ElectionandReferendaAmendmentAct United States of America and the Marshall 2017.pdf [accessed 6 Aug 2018] Islands (Amended). https://www.state ———. 2017b. Marshall Islands Employ- .gov/documents/organization/173999.pdf ment Equal Opportunity Act 2017. [accessed 5 Aug 2018] https://rmiparliament.org/cms/images/ usdoi, United States Department of the LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/ / 2018 2018 Interior. 2018. Interior Authorizes Full -0073/MarshallIslandsEmployment Decision-Making Power to Bikini Leaders EqualOpportunityAct2017_1.pdf over Annual Budget of the Bikini Resettle- [accessed 5 Aug 2018] ment Trust Fund. Office of Insular Affairs, ———. 2017c. National Nuclear Commis- 28 Nov. https://www.doi.gov/oia/interior sion Act 2017. https://rmiparliament.org/ -authorizes-full-decision-making-power cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/ -bikini-leaders-over-annual-budget-bikini 2017/2017-0034/NationalNuclear [accessed 31 July 2018] CommissionAct2017_1.pdf [accessed US Senate. 2017. S.2182 Bikini Resettle- 8 Aug 2018] ment and Relocation Act. 115th Congress ———. 2018a. Declaration and Issuance (2017–2018). https://www.congress.gov/ of the Sovereign Currency Act 2018. bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2182/text https://rmiparliament.org/cms/images/ [accessed 3 Aug 2018] LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/2018/2018 ———. . Congressional Testimony -0053/DeclarationandIssuanceofthe 2018 Bikini Resettlement Bill S February , SovereignCurrencyAct2018_1.pdf 2182 6 . -minute video, published on You- [accessed 5 Aug 2018] 2018 75 Tube by bikinijack2, 7 Feb. https://www ———. 2018b. Health Fund (Amendment) .youtube.com/watch?v=uhpQzHhYt7c Act 2018. https://rmiparliament.org/cms/ &feature=youtu.be [accessed 6 August library/category/37-2018.html?download 2018] =406:p-l-2018-65-health-fund-amendment -act,-2018 [accessed 5 Aug 2018]. Walsh, Julianne M, and Hilda C Heine. 2012. Etto Ñan Raan Kein: A Marshall ———. 2018c. Senior Citizens Act, 2018. Islands History. Honolulu: Bess Press. https://rmiparliament.org/cms/images/ LEGISLATION/BILLS/2018/2018-0115/ Washington Post. Washington, dc. Daily SeniorCitizensAct2018.pdf [accessed Internet news. https://www.washington 5 Aug 2018]. post.com/ 180 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019)

Commonwealth of the symbolized larger issues in the Com- Northern Mariana Islands monwealth. Opponents of the Saipan casino When the period in review began, one argued that voters should have been of the two biggest concerns for Com- able to approve its legalization. monwealth of the Northern Mariana Proponents, however, argued that the Islands (CNMI) leaders and policy- casino legalization went through the makers was the looming end of the proper legal process. The casino bill federal cw (CNMI-only Transitional was signed into law by then-Governor Worker) program, which provides Eloy S Inos, who said that it was the special cw-1 visas that allow non-US only way to prevent the collapse of the citizens to work in the CNMI. Set pension fund. Opponents of the new to expire in December 2019, the cw law challenged it in court, saying that program has provided the bulk of the its passage violated the Open Govern- workers making up the CNMI private ment Act’s requirement that the legis sector, providing much-needed support lature issue a meeting notice at least to the economy. The other concern seventy-two hours before the meeting. was the November 2018 general The CNMI Legislature responded by election. passing another Saipan casino law that During the period under review, the complied with the notice requirement. party in power, the local Republican Since the exclusive us$2 bil- Party, could feel the wind in its sails. lion casino license was awarded in The local economy, whose spectacular July 2014 to Best Sunshine Inter- downturn started in 1998, was finally national, now known as Imperial recovering. For the first time in so Pacific International, opponents have many years, tourist numbers were up, doubted its viability. For their part, and there were new investors actually the casino owners have seemed to investing in the CNMI (US Govern- have a knack for attracting or creat- ment Accountability Office 2017). ing controversies. Imperial Pacific More economic activities meant more management hired contractors from government revenue, and the issues China who turned out to have brought that had bedeviled previous adminis- in construction workers on tourist trations and legislatures—the lack of visas—the “quickest” way, given the funding for critical services, agencies, federal restrictions on the hiring of and outstanding obligations, among guest workers (mv, 29 May 2017). them the pension fund—could now This illegal activity unraveled just be addressed. But, as the late veteran as quickly following the accidental newscaster Eric Sevareid is widely death of one of the “tourists” at the attributed to have said, the chief cause casino’s construction site (mv, 3 April of problems are solutions. 2017). Imperial Pacific then did what For some residents, their main it should have done from the get-go: It concern was no longer the economy employed a US contractor who hired but “overdevelopment” (mv, 29 June h2-b (employment visa) workers (mv, 2018). For these residents, the gaudy 16 July 2018). Saipan casino, still under construction, In July 2017, the casino had a “soft political reviews • micronesia 181 opening” at its still-unfinished hotel Senate president, Torres was elected in Garapan, where it had relocated lieutenant governor in 2014 and from its previous site, an area in became the CNMI’s chief executive nearby T Galleria (mv, 7 July 2017). following the death of then-Governor Meanwhile, the remaining Chinese Eloy S Inos, age sixty-six, in December “tourists” hired by Imperial Pacific’s 2015 (mv, 30 Dec 2015). contractors staged protests near the Also in August 2017, North Korea new casino, demanding back wages threatened to nuke Guam after US and additional compensation (mv, President Trump vowed to meet 13 Dec 2017). Pyongyang’s threats “with fire and On Guam, the island’s legislative fury like the world has never seen” committee on ethics announced that (gdp, 10 Aug 2017). In response, it was launching a full investigation Governor Torres expressed support into a complaint against Guam Sena- for the American president (mv, 11 tor James Espaldon for facilitating a Aug 2017). Back in March 2016, questionable us$11.5 million genera- he endorsed Trump ahead of the US tor deal, which the CNMI’s Common- Republican Party’s local caucuses wealth Utilities Corporation (cuc) to select delegates to the Republican ultimately had to scrap (gdp, 17 May National Convention (mv, 14 March 2017). The controversy over this 2016). In April 2017, Trump met with project also resulted in CNMI Gover- the CNMI governor in the Oval Office nor Ralph Deleon Guerrero (D L G) of the White House. “This is the first Torres’s decision to “ask” cuc board governor to endorse me; he is a long members to resign (mv, 15 May 2017). time friend,” Trump was quoted as In the health sector, Esther Muna, saying. “We need to do what we can chief executive officer of the Com- to continue the economic growth in monwealth Healthcare Corporation the CNMI. Take care of my friend,” (chcc), expressed her desire to evict the president told his then Chief of Pacific Health Inc (phi), the privately Staff Reinhold Priebus (mv, 6 April owned pharmacy doing business in the 2017). CNMI’s only hospital, the Common- In August, the governor signed a wealth Health Center, if phi would us$20 million measure to pay land not agree to a rent increase. But Muna compensation owed to several local said the governor “disagreed” with the families (mv, 17 Aug 2017). This higher amount that chcc wanted to was among the many long-standing charge phi (mv, 19 July 2017). Later, obligations that the government could the public learned that Muna and the not afford to pay after the economy governor had disagreements regarding crashed in 1998. In 2017, however, other hospital management issues. the government found a new fund- On 6 August 2017, the CNMI’s ing source: the Saipan casino tax youngest governor in history, Ralph D payments. L G Torres, celebrated his thirty-eighth In September, CNMI Settlement birthday at a well-attended fundrais- Fund Trustee Joyce Tang reported to ing event at a hotel (mv, 7 Aug 2017). the federal court that the CNMI gov- A former CNMI House member and ernment was making weekly payments 182 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) of us$1 million, partly because of the governor said the gaming industry increased Saipan casino gross revenue was creating a ripple effect: “Property tax collected in 2016 and 2017 (mv, values are increasing and more tour- 22 Sept 2017). The Settlement Fund ists are arriving which benefits hotels, was created by the federal court after restaurants, stores, their suppliers and a global settlement agreement was vendors, building owners, landowners reached in retiree Berry Johnson’s and other businesses. You may say the class-action lawsuit against the CNMI casino is just one investment but the Retirement Fund and the CNMI ripple effect it brings is huge” (mv, 28 government for its failure to remit its Sept 2017). contributions to the pension fund (mv, In October, the governor signed 30 Sept 2013). Under the settlement another appropriation measure, agreement, the CNMI government amounting to us$1.4 million for the was required to pay 75 percent of the retroactive lump-sum payments owed retirement benefits, but the addi- to 350 active and inactive employees. tional revenue from the Saipan casino “[E]ven if the law said we should allowed the government to pay 100 pay,” the governor said, “if the reve- percent. As of September 2017, Tang nue is not available we cannot still pay said that there were 3,035 settlement that obligation . . . . If our economy class members, including seventy-two hasn’t grown this much there is no active CNMI government employees. way we could meet these obligations” The CNMI Settlement Fund owns a (mv, 2 Oct 2017). consent judgment totaling us$779 On 4 October 2017, the thirty- million, which the fund may enforce five-year-old Republican chairman of against the CNMI government in the House Committee on Ways and federal court if the CNMI fails to meet Means, Representative Angel Aldan its obligations. Demapan, announced that he was On 26 September 2017, Governor running against incumbent US Con- Torres signed the fiscal year (fy) 2018 gressman Gregorio Camacho Kilili budget bill, amounting to us$236 Sablan, a sixty-two-year-old Indepen- million—the largest in CNMI history dent who caucuses with US Demo- (mv, 27 Sept 2017). In fy 2017, the crats (mv, 5 Oct 2017). Kilili, as he is budget amounted to us$212.6 million; known in the Marianas, was elected in fy 2016, it was us$183.5 million; as the CNMI’s fist delegate to the US in fy 2015, us$170 million; fy 2014, Congress in 2008. He was reelected in us$145.9 million; fy 2013, us$133.6 2010, 2012, 2014, and then in 2016 million; and fy 2012, us$120.6 mil- when he, for the first time, ran unop- lion (CNMI Law Revision Commis- posed. Governor Torres expressed sion). The fy 2019 budget amount? support for Demapan. Backed by a us$258.1 million (mv, 3 April 2018). formidable Republican “machinery” When asked about the concern that controls the main levers of CNMI raised by Settlement Fund Trustee government, Demapan is Kilili’s Joyce Tang, who warned against the toughest opponent yet. But Kilili is risks of the CNMI government’s reli- also a battle-tested politician with the ance on the Saipan casino revenue, ability to reach out and create coali- political reviews • micronesia 183 tions that transcend party affiliations. 115-53 (mv, 2 Nov 2017). The bill’s As a political pundit might put it, original draft would have increased the winner of the 2018 delegate race the cw-1 cap for fy 2017 to 15,000 could very well be the candidate who from 12,998. The bill was amended by receives the most votes. the US Senate to add 350 cw-1 slots Also in October, the US Bureau of only; it also imposed a ban on non- Economic Analysis (bea) reported resident construction workers hired that the CNMI’s real gross domestic through the cw program. product (gdp) grew by 28.6 percent in Meanwhile, several politicians who 2016 after increasing only 3.8 percent ran as Independents in 2016 joined the in 2015 (mv, 17 Oct 2017). According Republican Party (mv, 17 Nov 2017). to the bea, “For comparison, real gdp On 19 November 2017, the gover- for the U.S. (excluding the territo- nor announced that Senate President ries) increased 1.5 percent in 2016. Arnold Indalecio Palacios would be Guam increased by 0.4 percent, while his running mate (mv, 20 Nov 2017). American Samoa decreased by 2.5 A couple of days later, the gover- percent” (mv, 17 Oct 2017). The bea nor had to be the bearer of bad news: also noted that this was the largest the US Department of Homeland gdp increase by any US territory since Security-US Citizenship and Immi- the agency started calculating gdp gration Services (dhs-uscis) had estimates for the territories in 2002 reduced the cw-1 cap for fy 2018 (mv, 17 Oct 2017). to 9,998 from 12,998 (mv, 22 Nov On 1 November 2017, it was 2017). The CNMI government and reported that the autonomous CNMI business community had requested Board of Education (boe) had fired dhs-uscis to reduce the cap by one Education Commissioner Cynthia I visa only. But dhs said it was its Deleon Guerrero, who had been hired “legal responsibility to make larger the previous year (mv, 1 Nov 2017). cuts to the cw number” while operat- Deleon Guerrero was considered a ing under the law that would end the more acceptable education commis- cw program in December 2019 (mv, sioner to the governor compared to 22 Nov 2017). The governor urged her predecessor, Rita A Sablan, who “Congressman [Kilili] to work with openly supported the opposition ticket me and the community to make the in the 2014 gubernatorial election. extension of the cw program the top The boe, however, indicated that it priority on his agenda before it is too would not work with Deleon Guer- late” (mv, 22 Nov 2017). He also told rero. In public, the governor did not Kilili to “stop saying” that he, the raise a fuss over her firing. She was governor, supported Kilili’s H R 339 later hired by Northern Marianas (mv, 20 Dec 2017). “What was passed College as one of its interim vice is not what I supported,” the governor presidents (mv, 1 March 2018). reiterated, adding, “And the outcome In contrast, the governor went of H.R. 339 has devastated everyone public with his disappointment over here on island. I am very concerned the version of Congressman Kilili’s because those folks that have been H R 339 that became US Public Law on island as construction workers, 184 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) gardeners, farmers, maintenance the chcc and to, in its place, reestab- people and [others who] fall under lish a public health department under the category of construction workers the executive branch (mv, 22 Jan are now no longer being renewed so 2018). Hospital officials and other key H.R. 339 has devastated not only the personnel opposed the bill (mv, 29 Jan economy but also people’s lives” (mv, 2018). phi Pharmacy, which Muna 20 Dec 2017). wanted evicted from the hospital, In December, former Governor received a five-year lease extension Juan Nekai Babauta neither confirmed (mv, 22 Jan 2018). The governor nor denied that he would run for the asked Vice Speaker Maratita to recall islands’ top elective post in 2018 (mv, her bill to abolish chcc (mv, 2 Feb 19 Dec 2017). A former Republican 2018). senator and Washington representa- As all of this was happening, the tive, Babauta was governor from moribund CNMI Democratic Party 2002 to 2006. He was an unsuccess- nominated a former mayor of Rota ful gubernatorial candidate in 2005, as its gubernatorial nominee (mv, 22 2009, and 2014. He also ran unsuc- Jan 2018). Although a former presi- cessfully for US congressman in 2010. dent of the Republican Senate, Joseph As 2017 drew to an end, CNMI Songao Inos, age seventy, was elected leaders said it was a good year, despite Rota mayor in 1993 as a Democrat. a looming workforce shortage (mv, He failed in his reelection bid in 1997 29 Dec 2017). but won a second term in 2005 on the In January 2018, Governor Torres slate of the Covenant Party, a splin- publicly criticized Esther Muna, chief ter group of Republicans. He is the executive officer of chcc. He said brother of the late former Governor he was disappointed with Muna for Eloy S Inos, whose running mate in renovating the hospital’s new outpa- the 2014 elections was Ralph D L G tient pharmacy instead of purchasing Torres, the incumbent governor. new pharmacy hoods for its existing In February 2018, the Democrats inpatient pharmacy (mv, 11 Jan 2018). announced that Joseph Songao Inos When the hospital-based outpatient had withdrawn from the gubernatorial pharmacy opened, the governor was race “for personal and family reasons” not among the officials who cut the (mv, 8 Feb 2018). Most of his family ceremonial ribbon (mv, 12 Jan 2018). members were with the Republican According to an e-mail from the chief camp. of staff of the hospital’s department In the same month, Bloomberg of medicine, the governor had told Businessweek posted a sensational the hospital board to fire Muna (mv, article by Matthew Campbell on its 16 Jan 2018). “As of this time,” the website, which the governor’s oppo- doctor said, “they [the hospital board nents hoped could change the trajec- members], being of sound mind, tory of CNMI election-year politics. have declined” (mv, 16 Jan 2018). The synopsis of the article—titled In the CNMI House of Representa- “A Chinese Casino Has Conquered tives, Republican Vice Speaker Janet a Piece of America”—said it all: Maratita introduced a bill to abolish “Construction workers maimed and political reviews • micronesia 185 killed. Millions paid to the gover- basically lives by himself, but people nor’s family. An impossibly lucrative take care of him” (pdn, 5 March gambling operation. And all on U.S. 2018). The lawyer also said the allega- soil” (Campbell 2018). The governor tions against the bishop “date back to and his allies said it was a politically nearly 50 years ago, making it hard motivated hit piece (mv, 19 Feb 2018). to find witnesses who were present Among the local sources of the article during the period alleged in the cases” were critics of the Saipan casino and (pdn, 5 March 2018). former Governor Juan Nekai Babauta, As the year went on, there was who was thinking of running for gov- more bad news for the CNMI. Despite ernor again (mv, 19 Feb 2018). pending legislation in the US Congress In March, concerned citizen Jack that would extend the cw program Muna said that lawmakers and other and increase the cw-1 cap, US Citizen- top officials did not need a pay hike. ship and Immigration Services (uscis) He was reacting to the passage in announced that the cw cap for fy the CNMI House of Representatives 2019 would be 4,999. The fy 2018 of two bills that would increase the cap was 9,998 (mv, 22 March 2018). salaries of executive branch officials uscis also said it would conduct a lot- and reestablish a special annuity for tery for the fy 2019 cw-1 applications the governor and lieutenant governor. (mv, 13 April 2018). Congressman Muna said that low-income people Kilili said that the “Trump administra- were “struggling to buy food” while tion’s decision” was “terrible for the their officials were giving themselves CNMI economy” and a “slap in the a pay increase (mv, 1 March 2018). face of everyone in the Marianas who Many in the opposition believed made the effort and expense to send that the proposed pay hikes and the cw applications” (mv, 17 April 2018). Bloomberg article were potent cam- He also said that the CNMI govern- paign issues—even as the administra- ment was “sitting on $22.5 million tion announced the enactment of a that should be going to families in the us$24 million supplemental budget Marianas who need help putting food and the reduction of the government’s on the table” (mv, 23 March 2018). long-standing debts, including judg- This provoked a spirited rebuttal ments, to us$1 million from us$60 from Department of Community and million (mv, 2 March 2018). Cultural Affairs Secretary Robert H On 5 March 2018, the CNMI’s first Hunter, who accused Kilili of play- bishop, Tomas A Camacho, passed ing “petty politics” (mv, 23 March away. He was eighty-four. A year 2018). Before the end of March, US before, two Guamanian residents had Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Repub- accused the bishop of raping them. lican chairwoman of the US Senate His lawyer, William Fitzgerald, told Committee on Energy and Natural the Pacific Daily News at the time: Resources, which has jurisdiction “Everybody in the CNMI loves Bishop over the territories, visited Saipan Camacho and everybody’s shocked, and Tinian. Senator Murkowski had including the bishop himself about the introduced the CNMI Workforce Bill, allegations. His health is not good. He which she said was likely to be signed 186 the contemporary pacific • 31:1 (2019) by President Trump if passed by both July 2018), which promised to ensure houses of the US Congress (mv, 28 that the Commonwealth will continue March 2018). to have access to the workers it needs, In April, former Governor Juan N all eyes turned to the ever-changing Babauta, age sixty-three, announced local political scene and the fast- his independent gubernatorial bid with approaching November elections. former Education Commissioner Rita zaldy dandan A Sablan, age sixty-one, as his running mate. Babauta said that he and Sablan “believe that the time has come to References direct the path of the Commonwealth All websites accessed 8 September 2018. in the right direction” (mv, 13 April 2018). Babauta’s wife is the sister of Campbell, Matthew. 2018. A Chinese Governor Torres’s wife. Casino Has Conquered a Piece of America. Early in May, the Commonwealth Bloomberg Businessweek, 15 Feb. Healthcare Corporation said that its www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018 cw-1 petitions for over 100 nurses -02-15/a-chinese-company-has-conquered -a-piece-of-america were rejected by uscis (mv, 17 May 2018). CNMI Law Revision Commission. 2018. On 21 May 2018, another beloved CNMI Legislative Branch. http://cnmilaw CNMI figure passed away. The Com- .org/legislative.html monwealth’s longest serving and only gdp, Guam Daily Post. three-term governor, Pedro “Teno” http://www.postguam.com Pangelinan Tenorio, was eighty-four. mv, Marianas Variety. Weekday newspaper, CNMI, regional, and US officials, as Guam edition. Harmon, Guam. well as local politicians on both sides http://www.mvariety.com/ of the aisle, paid tribute to Teno’s pdn, Pacific Daily News. Hagåtña, Guam. accomplishments and record as public http://www.guampdn.com servant (mv, 22 May 2018). In June, Saipan’s casino investor, US Government Accountability Office. Imperial Pacific International, sued 2017. Report to Congressional addressees, Bloomberg and its reporters for defa- May. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Implementation of mation. The lawsuit was filed in Hong Federal Minimum Wage and Immigration Kong (mv, 11 June 2018). Laws. https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/ Following the enactment of the 684778.pdf CNMI Workforce Bill in July (mv, 26