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Central Committee declared in favor holdings in United Micronesia Devel- of Borja, but Tenorio is fast adopting opment Association (including Conti- a high-profile campaign stance. On nental Micronesia Airlines), various the other side, Republicans and overseas branches of the international former governors Pedro P Tenorio courier company dhl, a bank, hotel and Lorenzo I Guerrero declared interests, a resort in Vietnam, as well their candidacies. Washington Repre- as property in the Philippines, France, sentative Juan Babauta initially and elsewhere. Because there was no announced his candidacy, but with- current will, a probate court has taken drew a couple of months later. The on the responsibility of determining campaign season is already launched the division of the estate. Claimants and the campaign promises to be inter- include several children who claim esting and ardent. Hillblom paternity; two young women The good news was that a new who claim common law spouse status; resort opened on Rota, and the new two members of the Saudi royal family port on Saipan is already partly opera- who claim the deceased promised them tional. Tourism is up to more than a part of his fortune; the University of 600,000 visitors a year. Japanese still hospital, which claims Hill- account for the largest number of visi- blom promised money for a medical tors, but Korean numbers are growing research center after treatment follow- fast, and there is a concerted effort to ing an earlier plane crash; and numer- attract tourists from mainland China. ous business associates seeking various Road construction continues, and the types of compensation. economy seems to be recovering from samuel f mcphetres the depression that followed the amendments to the previous tax law that was driving businesses out of the area. Disputes involving the estate of The accomplishments and activities dhl founder and business tycoon of Guam’s governor, its member Larry Hillblom attracted much atten- of congress, the controversial land tion in 1995–96. Hillblom disap- trust issue, and the territory’s quest peared in March 1995 while flying for commonwealth status, were his fifty-year old amphibian airplane the major events on Guam during over the northern islands of the Mari- 1995–96. anas. The bodies of two of the plane’s In January, Governor passengers, the pilot, and Legislative awarded his administration an A-plus Vice Speaker Jesus Mafnas, were for its first year’s performance evalua- found in the ocean several days later. tion. He identified his two goals for Hillblom’s body was never found, but 1996 as completing the strategic plan a local court declared him officially for implementing his Vision 2001 con- dead. cept announced in November, and Hillblom’s estate, valued at between growing the economy. Vision 2001 $450 million and $1 billion, includes requires specific action plans to political reviews • micronesia 203 improve the island’s health care, edu- bills. He also agreed to work with the cation, infrastructure, public safety, Nation in helping indigenous people, housing, and work force, and also and suggested the protesters “Go sleep places emphasis on community and at the Legislature until they pass the cultural values. This comprehensive bill” (Pacific Daily News, 11 July five-year plan, the territory’s first, will 1995, 3). Prior to the visit, the gover- be the chief means for improving nor had submitted a bill to the legisla- Guam’s quality of life as the island ture outlining rules and regulations for enters the twenty-first century. Efforts the land trust. to achieve economic growth include Angel Santos, now a senator, privatizing some of Guam’s govern- authored some of the implementing ment services, and expanding tourism. legislation and called for a public hear- Gutierrez made progress in reducing ing on it at the encampment site. Some government expenditures, improving weeks after the hearing, the encamp- executive-branch efficiency, and get- ment site was declared a health hazard ting movement on a planning vision. by Guam public health officials, and However, he and the Guam Legislature the supervisor of the governor’s com- butted heads with the Chamoru plex ordered the Chamoru Nation to Nation, one of three indigenous break camp and leave the parade nationalist groups, concerning the grounds. The protesters responded by rules for returning land to residents of serving eviction notices to non- Chamorro (also Chamoru) ancestry. Chamorros occupying government The Chamorro Land Trust Act was land. The governor then agreed to passed in 1975, but lay unimplemented delay eviction of the protesters and for nearly twenty years until political asked the vice speaker of the legisla- activist and cofounder of the Chamoru ture to speed up consideration of the Nation Angel Santos decided to acti- land trust enabling legislation. How- vate it via a court suit. In order to ever, on 1 September the protesters implement the Act, the legislature and received a court summons, which they governor wrote three bills that had decided to ignore. Ten days later, the opposing views of the land trust con- legislature began three days of debate cept. To focus attention on the plight and discussion on the final language of landless Chamorros, on 7 June the of the three land trust bills. The pro- Chamoru Nation set up a protest testers assembled at the legislature hall encampment on the parade grounds of and after listening to some of the the governor’s office and stated that debate began pounding on doors and the group would protest until the land windows, blowing conch-shell horns, trust act was implemented (via amend- and chanting “Chamorro power,” dis- ments providing rules and regulations). turbing the debate. On two occasions, Early in the protest, dressed in loin- Senator Santos left the session hall to cloths with shell adornments, the request that the protesters stop inter- leaders paid a surprise visit to Gover- rupting debate, and one senator nor Gutierrez, who agreed to write to claimed protesters threatened to take the legislature about the pending land his life if he did not vote in favor of the 204 the contemporary pacific • spring 1997 land legislation (Pacific Daily News, nous movement (the Organization of 13 Sept 1995, 5). During the third day People for Indigenous Rights, opir, of debate, the senators passed the bill being the oldest of the three). The new establishing the amended rules and small group, while desiring to retain regulations for land applications, and US citizenship, declared its indepen- a bill transferring 4336 lots from the dence, wrote a constitution, and abolished Land for the Landless pro- created a decision-making organiza- gram to the Chamorro Land Trust pro- tion. In an open letter of 14 August, gram, enlarging the amount of land in Mike deCastro, the group’s minister of the trust. The bill introduced by the finance, called for the abolition of the governor, changing some of the land Commission on Self-Determination trust arrangements, was defeated. and the Guam Finance Commission, With a unanimous supporting vote by and for Governor Gutierrez to resign the senators on the two land trust bills, and let the republic and its president, anger was transformed to elation. Norbert Perez, take over political Later the same day, the legislation control of Guam. This call was not moved to the governor’s office, where heeded, and the movement has gener- he signed the rules and regulations bill ated little support. into law, but stated he needed a day to Governor Gutierrez began a num- review the land transfer bill because of ber of initiatives to maximize the eco- the many land lot numbers involved. nomic benefits of base closures on This delay, although short, caused the Guam, encouraged placement of essen- protesters’ mood to turn sour again. tial government information online, They pushed their way into the gover- and established the Guam Crime Com- nor’s office, where some angry words mission for the purpose of waging war were exchanged. The confrontation on crystal methamphetamine, also overflowed into the parking lot, where known as “ice.” During the year, he security staff and police officers had went public in strong opposition to to physically restain the protesting nuclear testing by the French at crowd. The next day, with tempers Moruroa. Gutierrez urged President cool, Governor Gutierrez signed the Clinton to extent Guam most-favored- land transfer bill into law, and soon community status, which would delay after the Chamoru Nation began the shutdown of naval base activity breaking camp and clearing the parade until 1999. The governor’s suggestion grounds. Although democratic prac- that contributions to the Clinton-Gore tices came under some stress, the reelection campaign would assure such 71-day protest ended in success. The treatment generated some criticism Chamorro Land Trust Commission locally. The governor has also been could begin accepting applications for taken to task over his suit against the land lots at $1 per year for 99 years, elected Board of Education, in which and landless Chamorros would be he claims the 1950 Organic Act pro- given preference. vides his office sole authority for the The Republic of Guahan emerged supervision and control of education, during 1995 as Guam’s third indige- and thus supersedes a 1993 law estab- political reviews • micronesia 205 lishing the elected board, a law that he annual 10 percent shipping-fee and his lieutenant governor, Madeleine increase, and for the territory’s push Bordallo, had cosponsored when mem- for reimbursement from the federal bers of the Guam Legislature. This sit- government for the costs of supporting uation has led to some confusion in the migrants to Guam from the freely huge Department of Education. associated states. It is estimated that Throughout the period under about eight thousand individuals from review, residents of Guam have paid the surrounding states have come to higher water, sewer, and electric power Guam since 1986, the year the Com- bills, yet these essential services have pacts of Free Association came into declined in quality. The governor and force. the legislature have responded by pro- The other external affair of import viding funds for improvement and is Guam’s future political status. Gov- expansion of this infrastructure. ernor Gutierrez serves as chairman of Another significant problem for the Commission on Self-Determina- elected leadership is the financial crisis tion, which for nearly ten years has at the Guam Memorial Hospital. This been negotiating a new commonwealth government-run institution remains status with the US federal government. unaccredited and apparently unable to This effort has spanned the administra- dig itself out of the red, with some $20 tions of governors Paul Calvo, Ricardo million owed by former patients, $17 Bordallo, and Joseph Ada, and is now million owed by health insurance orga- into the Gutierrez term. nizations, and $24 million owed by the During the period under review, hospital to various vendors for sup- there was a great deal of solid talk but plies and equipment. not a great deal of progress toward Governor Gutierrez realized some completing a draft agreement between limited success in external relations. In Guam and the Clinton administration. January he sponsored a meeting of ten The US side went through three negoti- regional chief executives. This historic ators in six months, until Deputy Sec- initiative brought together presidents retary John Garamendi, of the US and governors from the Federated Department of Interior, accepted the States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, position in January 1996. While a Belau, the Republic of the Marshall series of substantial discussions on all Islands, and the Commonwealth of the the hard issues took place soon after Northern Mariana Islands. These lead- the appointment, it took another five ers identified a number of urgent social months to get Garamendi to Guam. and economic issues that had regional He stated that President Clinton implications, and agreed to formalize “wants to get a commonwealth agree- their relationship through a Council of ment done.” Given limited progress Micronesian Chief Executives. The lately on the thorny issues of the char- group met a second time in Hawai‘i in acter of Chamorro self-determination, April, to sign a founding charter and the extent of applicability of federal to confirm unified support for Guam law under a new political relationship, in its attempts to gain relief from an and immigration control, it appears 206 the contemporary pacific • spring 1997 that Washington’s bureaucratic wheels, impact from illegal immigration as particularly those in the Justice and opposed to that from legal migration, State Departments, have recently as has occurred under the Compacts of ground to a halt. Congressman Under- Free Association. Securing the funds wood noted that the timeline for deliv- involved a floor fight, and Underwood ery of a draft agreement to President got the impact aid funds restored after Clinton has slipped, and, with the they had been cut. He gained key sup- political season replacing the policy port from Senator Akaka in moving season in Washington, dc, the chance the impact aid legislation through the for further movement on these difficult Senate, getting it annually for six issues until after the 1996 US elections years, and, with the help of Alaska appears small. Nevertheless, Represen- Senator Murkowski, persuaded the tative Elton Gallegly, chair of the House-Senate conference committee House Resources Committee, stated that impact aid was a federal obliga- that his committee is ready to consider tion that could not be ignored. With the commonwealth package as soon as the momentum going his way, Under- it clears the administration. That wood next gained the support of the pushes the status issue into 1997, just Clinton administration. Through these a year from the centennial of the efforts, the congressman secured for American takeover of Guam. Guam $4.58 million for each year, Delegate Underwood’s effort assist- 1996–2001. ing Guam’s Commission on Self-Deter- Guam’s delegate took a very strong mination was just one of many stand in opposition to the English-only initiatives he pursued during 1995–96. legislation in Congress. His public Although the five territorial delegates statements were particularly powerful, lost their vote in the Committee-of-the- combining his considerable expertise Whole of the House of Representatives in bilingual education, keen insight, with the 1995 change to a Republican- and humor. His point of view gained dominated majority, Underwood considerable respect, being broadcast found new ways to accomplish his over cnbc and cnn, and appearing in goals, one of which was to establish the Los Angles Times, New York solid working relationships with the Times, and Chicago Times. The absur- congressional leadership and President dity of the legislation becomes clear in Clinton. Underwood’s second method its punitive aspect, which would allow for selling Guam’s needs was to find citizens to sue over the use of lan- common ground with the new major- guages other than English. ity on various issues. Citizens of Taiwan and South Korea These approaches resulted in suc- have been extended visa waiver privi- cess on the issue of Compact impact leges for tourist visits to Guam, and aid to Guam. Underwood persuaded Congressman Underwood has worked both the House Appropriations Com- hard to obtain approval of a draft pilot mittee and the Resources Committee Guam-only visa waiver program for that the impact aid was a federal obli- visitors from the Philippines. While the gation, arguing the distinction between program may not significantly increase political reviews • micronesia 207 tourist numbers, it will, when Nations for its attempts to abolish the approved by the Immigration and Nat- United Nations decolonization com- uralization Service, allow families to mittee, and of the mission’s maneuver- get together on important occasions. ings to alter committee resolutions Given Guam’s sizable population with benefiting Guam. He was alarmed that roots in the Philippines, this program the US mission attempted to modify will be important. safeguards regarding indigenous prop- Locally, Underwood has worked erty rights and sought to remove men- closely with Governor Gutierrez to tion of the Chamorro right of self- lessen the economic impact of base determination in committee resolu- closures. In amendments to this year’s tions. $265 billion defense authorization act, The federal govern- Underwood obtained funding for a ment controls over 30 percent of study to determine if a veterans wing Guam’s total land area of 220 square should be added to the Guam Naval miles, and much of that land is unused. Hospital. The act also designates Congressman Underwood, working Guam’s Apra Harbor a US port that with Governor Gutierrez, made military ships could enter for nonemer- progress during his first term in getting gency repairs, extends commissary and some of the excess land returned. Dur- exchange benefits for Guam veterans, ing the period under review, Under- and allocates $1.3 million for an envi- wood succeeded in getting 90 acres of ronmental baseline study of 3200 acres Guam port land exempted from a fed- of military land. In addition, the legis- eral law requiring the sharing of prof- lation calls for a clearly defined role its that may accrue from development. for the Guam Air National Guard as Working with Senator Murkowski in part of the US Air Force presence in May and June, Underwood introduced the western Pacific, and reconfirms the legislation calling for the release of obligation of the US Navy to upgrade excess federal land to the Government the Piti Power Plant before handing it of Guam rather than to other federal over to Guam’s civilian power author- agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife ity. Further, in a meeting with Presi- Service. Underwood, Murkowski, and dent Clinton, Delegate Underwood Gutierrez were highly critical of called on the administration to give attempts by federal agencies—termed Guam “most favored base closing “alien predators”—to gobble up treatment” as a means of lessening excess federal land before the local the economic impact of the closings. government could get it. This is a In international issues, Underwood supreme example of the critical need to was in the forefront of a call to boycott relocate the locus of political power French President Jacques Chirac’s from Washington, dc, to Guam— appearance before a joint session of Underwood’s fundamental mission. Congress because of French nuclear In May and June, multicolored cam- device testing at Moruroa in French paign billboards began popping up Polynesia. Underwood was also highly along Guam’s main roads and intersec- critical of the US mission to the United tions. Some fifty-four candidates will 208 the contemporary pacific • spring 1997 vie for the twenty-one seats of the Guam Legislature through a Septem- Kiribati ber primary and November general Following the defeat of a motion of election. The voters will also consider confidence in May 1994, the national four proposals that have reached the legislative body, the Maneaba ni ballot through popular initiative. The Maungatabu, was dissolved prior to first asks the electorate if it desires to normally schedule elections. New elec- allow a casino gambling control act tions were called for 22–29 July 1994. that would, among other things, legal- Between this dissolution of the ize casino gambling. Legalized gam- Maneaba and the elections, Kiribati bling has been a very controversial was governed by an interim Council of issue on Guam and has met with very State made up of the Speaker of the old strong opposition among the Catholic Maneaba, the Chief Justice, and the community. Chair of the Public Service Commis- Two of the three other proposals sion. will ask voters to consider changing The national election saw the previ- the basic structure of the Guam Legis- ous opposition party, the Maneaban te lature: reducing the number of its seats Mauri (Christian Democratic Party), from twenty-one to fifteen, staggering winning 13 of 37 seats, compared with its terms, lengthening terms from two only 8 seats for the previous governing to four years, and limiting terms to no party, the National Progressive Party. more than three complete successive Popular support of Maneaban te four-year terms. The fourth proposal Mauri was reinforced on 30 September will ask voters if they wish to limit the 1994 with the election of its presiden- annual budgetary ceiling of the legisla- tial candidate, Teburoro Tito. The new ture so as not to exceed 2.5 percent of president defeated three other rivals the total government of Guam revenue with 10,834 votes or 51.1 percent of projections for the same fiscal year. those cast. This result was particularly Given the past year’s events, Guam significant because the National Pro- will continue to enjoy interesting polit- gressive Party had effectively been in ical times. power since the country became inde- donald r shuster pendent from the United Kingdom in 1979. *** Since taking office for a four-year term, the new government has initiated Thanks to Cathy Gault for comments a special inquiry into the misuse of on the first draft of this review. government travel allowances by mem- bers of the previous government. It has also encouraged the idea of constitu- tional reform, and appointed a Consti- tutional Review Committee for this purpose. Overseas, the new government has moved to seek compensation from