Pinoys' contribution to CNMI culture, economy recognized

CAPITAL HILL, Saipan – The US territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has recognized the cultural and economic contributions of Filipinos to the islands’ socio-economic progress. During Monday's ceremony at his office on Capital Hill, CNMI Governor Benigno R. Fitial signed a proclamation declaring June 8 to 14 as CNMI-Philippine Friendship Week. "We extend our hands in a spirit of goodwill, friendship and understanding to further strengthen and enhance our harmonious and mutually beneficial relations," said the governor, whose wife Josie is from the Philippine province of Nueva Ecija. The CNMI is home to an estimated 10,000 Filipino contract workers, along with their children and other Filipinos who have been granted American citizenship. Many of the Filipinos in the CNMI work as nurses, accountants, engineers, architects, computer technicians, sales and marketing representatives, hoteliers, teachers, construction workers, house helpers, farmers, and journalists. "The Filipino-American citizens and Filipino citizens in the CNMI collectively and individually have always shown solidarity in the community," Fitial said. The Northern Marianas and the Philippines were both occupied by foreign rulers before and after World War II. The Northern Marianas was once ruled by Spain, Germany, and Japan until the United States defeated Japan in 1944 during World War II. In 1947, the Northern Mariana Islands became part of the post-World War II United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific administered by the US. In 1976, the U.S. Congress approved a mutually negotiated “Covenant" to establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in political union with the United States. Legally qualified CNMI residents became US citizens on Nov. 3, 1986. Around that time, the CNMI opened its doors to foreign workers, mostly from the Philippines and China. ‘Green card’ With the enactment of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act, thousands of long-time Filipino workers in the CNMI are hoping that they will be afforded the rights given to US citizens. The bill signed into law by President George W. Bush last May 9, enables the US government to have control over CNMI immigration. A petition for "green cards" and better immigration status signed by more than 7,000 Filipinos, other foreign workers, and members of the local community was recently sent to the US Senate, US House of Representatives, and the US Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. However, there is no provision for green cards in the new law. It nonetheless requires the US administration — in consultation with the CNMI — to recommend on whether Congress should qualify long-term foreign workers for a permanent status as prescribed under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The US government is mandated to make the recommendation on or before the second year of the law's implementation. “I believe permanent status (hopefully green cards) for long-term guest workers and parents of US citizen children is inevitable just as I always believed that a raise in the minimum wage and federalization of labor and immigration laws were inevitable," Florida-based human rights advocate Wendy Doromal said in a statement. - GMANews.TV