Both sides wrong in guest worker fight, MV 11

By Jeffrey C. Turbitt

Last spring I attended the wedding of my sister in law in Manila . Of the five siblings in my wife's family, only one remains in the Philippines , and I don't suspect she and her new husband will stay there much longer. All happen to be bright, well educated, attractive and competent in their fields. On that same trip, I perused the help wanted section of the Manila newspapers and almost all the ads were for jobs abroad -- the brain drain on the PI is obvious and growing.

Back here in Saipan , a large group of alien workers is waiting desperately for federalization legislation that will enable them the freedom of movement to work in the U.S. mainland. For reasons I don't quite get, possibly racist, possibly plain mean spiritedness or more likely just to maintain control of workers, the CNMI is fighting desperately to thwart the desires of these alien workers.

Both sides here are wrong. The PI will never turn around if it is based on the best and brightest people leaving it. While I am sympathetic to their individual plight, and speak from the privileged perch of white male American, there is something unsavory about the desperate efforts of many Filipinos to flee their own country. Even if these people here are able to go to the states, make money and send some back to keep their relatives afloat, this is still a band-aid approach that never heals the essential problems back home. It passes the buck to future generations. I do understand the individual feeling of helplessness and the overwhelming feel of the problems there, but to just leave through this or some other method to a virtual green card is running away from your problems. Eventually they must be faced or the PI will be perpetually problematic.

Even more unsavory is the effort of the CNMI government to stop them, as it fights tooth and nail to keep these people from upgrading their status. No proposal has these people suddenly gaining voting rights in our bloated, absurd government with its carnival like election and its related spoils system. The economy and wages are so poor here, these newly freed workers won't be eager to stay. If they did, there is your labor supply, only they have a little bit of freedom now and can't be so easily controlled, which is what this effort is about -- controlling alien workers. The leadership isn't exactly grateful or welcoming to the people who fix our cars, watch our kids, cook our food and help us convalesce when we are sick.

Governor Ben Fitial has made many of these unwelcoming remarks, and he in many ways reminds me of George W. Bush. Both were elected with the thinnest of margins. Both have brought disaster to their party. Both seem to care little about what the people want and seem to just do whatever they want. Both are wildly unpopular. In his defense, Fitial has done some difficult cost cutting measures that the new group of retreads recently elected either didn't do in their previous opportunities and are unlikely to do going forward. Both, so I have read and have experienced in Fitial's case, can be very charming politicians. The one stark difference is that Fitial can be extremely forthright and open about the intentions of legislation, which would be praiseworthy if the intentions weren't so awful. Speaking on the newly passed and unpopular labor bill he said the exit requirement is designed "to prevent the aliens from making the CNMI their home and making them eligible for permanent resident status [under future federal immigration law]."

Regarding his "friend," the disgraced, imprisoned, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was paid millions by the CNMI government to keep wages low and the labor supply bloated, he was equally frank: “He did what he was paid to do — which was to prevent a federal takeover of immigration in the CNMI." When confronted with guest workers clamoring for improved status and protesting outside the hearing in August, he said of them: “They are illegals. We’re processing them and they will soon be deported. They deliberately destroyed their passports.”

Both sides need to rethink what they are doing.
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There was some shock among the progressive minded that Tina Sablan, at least in the preliminary stage, is in sixth place and just barely ahead for the final slot before the absentee votes are counted on Saturday. One of the anonymous bloggers had an interesting take on the befuddlement of some that Sablan did not garner more votes. Here is his explanation: She ran independent, did not run a single advertisement, did not attend the funerals, baby showers, birthday parties, etc., did not "ask" for a single vote, did not post up a single billboard, did not do a sign waving, did not have a rally or campaign party of any sort, spoke openly about the plight of non-resident workers, federalization, minimum wage, casino act, government's status quo, and all other issues the face the CNMI. She went to every forum she was invited to and spoke from her heart unscripted. She had her name on the ballot different than what is publicly known and moved to Precinct 1 the day before she filed on the last day possible. She did not align herself with anyone running, is female, 26 years old, 50 percent NMD and had 14 people with her contending for 6 seats -- the worst ratio in the election. She did not promise anyone a single job, did not give a single person a donation of any type, spent less than $700 on her entire campaign and with all that said shouldn't the question be: How the hell did she get 911 votes?

Jeffrey C. Turbitt is the language arts department chairman at Saipan Southern High School, as well as an avid scuba diver and traveler. He offers more thoughts in his blog “Hypercritical Thoughts” at: www.turbittj.blogspot.com/ He welcomes feedback, tips and story ideas at turbittj@yahoo.com. His column appears regularly on Wednesdays.

Makati Mall bombing kills 8, injures 70

An explosion at the Glorietta 2 shopping complex in Makati, Philippines, killed eight people and injured as many as 70 others. I've been there on many occasions. I'm not given to worry about that kind of thing too much, but I'm always more aware in the Philippines of this kind of thing. Police haven't determined if it is terrorism related, but I'll go out on a limb and say probably. This is a sad situation. More bad news for the PI.