Political Reviews • Micronesia 197 References
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political reviews • micronesia 197 References tion since 1986 had been ignored or disregarded and that the situation was Government of Guam. 1997. Response of Guam to the “Right to Reply” of the no longer acceptable. The local mini- Administering Power (USA). UN General mum wage, the dependence on foreign Assembly, 52nd session, 10 October. workers, and violations of human and civil rights of those workers were PDN, Pacific Daily News. specifically mentioned. The president’s PSN, Pacific Sunday News. promise to cooperate and coordinate with local authorities in carrying out Underwood, Robert. 1998. State of Guam’s the desired reforms was not met with Agenda in Washington. 23 July. great enthusiasm. United States. 1997. Verbatim transcript of The minimum wage issue was the US Mission to the United Nations greatly exacerbated when the process “Right to Reply.” UN General Assembly, of raising the local minimum wage by Fourth Committee, 10 October. 30 cents an hour every year until it reached the federal level was brought to a halt under pressure primarily from the garment industry. Just before the Northern Mariana Islands July 1997 increment was to have Gubernatorial elections, a new low in kicked in, the legislature amended the relations with the federal government, law and froze the wage increase at a continuing labor issues, and new one-time increase of 30 cents per hour health concerns featured prominently for all employees except those of during the year. The new administra- garment and construction companies. tion of Pedro P Tenorio (Teno) and his Those workers would get only an addi- lieutenant, Jesus C Sablan (Pepero), tional 15 cents an hour in July 1996 found that the coffers were empty and another 15 cents on 1 July 1997. when they moved into their Capitol After that date there would be no Hill offices and then had to deal with automatic increases until a committee the significant economic impacts of the was formed to make industry-specific Asian monetary crisis. recommendations. For a complex set of reasons, rela- The sometimes acrimonious tions between the Northern Marianas exchanges between federal and and Washington descended another commonwealth officials featured the notch or two during the year. On 30 increased use of the term “indentured May 1997 President Clinton wrote to servitude.” After a January 1998 visit then governor Froilan C Tenorio stat- to attend the inauguration of Gover- ing his administration’s determination nor Pedro P Tenorio, Representative to reclaim responsibility for immigra- George Miller reported that inden- tion, minimum wage, and labor. His tured servitude was common in the now famous “Dear Froilan” letter Northern Marianas according to what noted that issues which had been he saw. He was referring to the prac- called to the commonwealth’s atten- tice of foreign recruiters demanding as 198 the contemporary pacific • spring 1999 much as ten thousand dollars from of this group, in addition to others workers for jobs “in America.” Such from Sri Lanka and Nepal, led to workers often arrive on Saipan with- demonstrations in front of the Hori- out legitimate employers or jobs and guchi Building in Garapan, where all feel obliged to take whatever they can of the federal agencies are housed. The get rather than return home empty- governments of Bangladesh, Nepal, handed. and Sri Lanka have filed official dip- There were many other develop- lomatic protests about the treatment of ments in the area of labor. The their citizens in the commonwealth. In number of garment factories jumped addition, some human rights activists from about 20 in 1996 to 35 or more have filed reports with the United in 1998, resulting in the doubling of Nations Human Rights Commission. the Chinese worker population to Substantial numbers of Chinese sixteen thousand, according to some workers were smuggled into the com- estimates. The legislature has again monwealth for eventual clandestine imposed a cap on the number of entry into Guam (at an estimated cost garment workers, so new workers of $5,000 each). As many as two hun- for the factories still under con- dred are now seeking political asylum struction presumably will have to in Guam on the grounds that they are be recruited from among the afraid of returning to the People’s unemployed. Republic of China because they vio- The Pedro Tenorio administration lated some terms of the contract they staged surprise raids on garment fac- signed in China before arriving in the tories to determine if they met legal Northern Marianas. standards in safety, immigration status, As noted in last year’s report, the and payroll practices. In June 1998, campaign for governor took off early. for example, 16 illegal workers were When incumbent Froilan Tenorio found in a room locked from the out- announced in December 1996 that he side, and about 30 more fled before was not going to run for reelection, his they could be arrested. In all, the raids lieutenant, Jesus Borja, declared his netted some 200 illegal workers, noted intention to run for the job. Then many safety violations, and fined some Tenorio changed his mind and was owners for various infractions. One declared the official candidate by the prominent factory owner was fined Democratic Central Committee (the over $400,000 for nonpayment of leadership of the local party), leaving overtime. Borja to run as an independent. Mean- More workers arrived from Bang- while, Republican Larry I Guerrero, ladesh during the year, bringing the former one-time governor, squared off total to about two thousand men, against former two-time governor many of whom have been victimized. Pedro P Tenorio. Guerrero teamed up Large numbers are hired by security with Rita Inos, the first Chamorro firms, only to be abandoned as the woman to earn a PhD, while Tenorio companies take new business names chose Senate President Jesus C Sablan and hire new workers. The treatment as his running mate. In an open party political reviews • micronesia 199 primary Tenorio won handily, setting ney general, Sebastian Aloot, who had the scene for a three-way race. resigned to take a consultancy with the Froilan Tenorio eventually chose to government at a much more lucrative run with Mayor Jess Guerrero, a close fee, headed the charge. However, the relative of defeated Republican candi- court determined that since the consti- date Larry Guerrero, who then lent his tutional limit was passed during Pedro support to the Tenorio campaign. Jesus Tenorio’s second term, it could not be Borja chose Benigno Sablan, secretary applied retroactively. Pedro Tenorio of Natural Resources, to be his run- was sworn in to his third term on 14 ning mate. January 1998. The campaign was very personal, Starting in late 1997, the economy but two things stand out. The incum- of the Northern Marianas began to bent governor made it very clear that show signs of a serious slowdown. The any government employee, regard- first indication of a crisis was when the less of party affiliation, would be Korean Airlines B747 crashed on punished for opposing his campaign, Guam in October, and Korea decided and he made good on this promise to suspend all future flights to the later. The second was a letter on offi- Marianas, not just Guam. The impact cial stationery, written by then lieu- was immediate. Korean-owned hotels tenant governor Borja to a Superior resorted to renting their suites as Court judge, requesting clemency in apartments, dropping rates from over the sentencing of a convicted rapist. $100 a night to low monthly rates of When this was revealed, the constitu- $40–$50 a night. In many cases, ency he was courting, the young intelli- employee layoffs have been severe, and gentsia and voters of non-Marianas new construction of hotels has come to descent (who now represent nearly 20 a complete halt. percent of the total), were incensed. Early in 1998 the Asian currency His choice of running mate was also crisis began in earnest. The devalua- widely criticized. tion of various currencies had an In the end, Pedro Tenorio made a immediate effect on Marianas tourism clean sweep with 46 percent of the when it became too expensive to buy 11,000 votes cast, and Froilan Tenorio dollars with yen, pesos, or won. Tour- took a little over 27 percent. Jesse ism has dropped by 30–40 percent Borja came in a surprising third with a from all sources. Hotel occupancy is at little over 26 percent of the vote. Super- a record low, and peripheral businesses typhoon Keith hit Saipan on election such as beach activities, restaurants, night and was responsible for the rela- and tours have either closed up com- tively low turnout. pletely or drastically reduced their Following the counting and certi- services. fication of the vote, the Democratic A law designed to protect the Central Committee funded a challenge commonwealth from unscrupulous or to the eligibility of Pedro P Tenorio, insolvent investors may be another claiming a constitutional limit of two element in the economic downturn. It terms. Froilan Tenorio’s former attor- requires a foreign investor to deposit 200 the contemporary pacific • spring 1999 $100,000 in escrow in a local bank A second resort, a two-hundred- against bankruptcy, to cover unpaid million-dollar joint venture between a debts and the costs of repatriating local entrepreneur and Japanese inves- abandoned employees, and appears to tors, is expected to break ground by have deterred potential investors. October 1998. It will be twice as big as One of the consequences of the poor the present resort, with two 500-room economic situation is a smaller tax base towers and a family-oriented water and strains on the commonwealth bud- theme park.