Smart Alternatives to HANMI, the Chamber, and MVA

Editorial by Troy Torres, Kandit News & Views

It has come to my attention since publishing our editorial Why Would Any Reasonable Citizen Trust HANMI After the Casino Failure? that several members of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce do not agree with the positions HANMI and the Chamber have been taking. It came to my attention because several businesswomen and businessmen have reached out to me to say so.

“Not all of us are for their China push.”

“They never consulted me about their position.”

“They’ve been pushing China since the garment industry and the rest of us know it’s an unsustainable market.”

“I just wish the governor would call these people out, I mean really call them out.”

“The Chamber is wrong in many ways, but where else are we supposed to go for representation and network?”

Great question! Here’s the answer: The Marianas Business Network.

[Contacts: WhatsApp (670) 286-3010 and email: [email protected]]

Not only is MBN inherently nonpartisan, over the past year it has developed a network, a marketing program, and the attention and respect of both the legislature and the governor’s office. Among their biggest selling points: 1) Not owned, operated, or influenced by the CCP. 2) Not owned, operated, or influenced by the oligarchs of the CNMI.

HANMI and the Chamber have taken political influence to the limits of ethics while refusing to accommodate both reason and the paradigm shift in global economic and security policy that stared them in the face in the wake of the garment industry human rights abuses. It’s how the unlearned lessons led to the dead-of-night institution of casino gambling in the CNMI.

Think objectively about the line they are serving to the public: That Arnold Palacios is singlehandedly responsible for the deterioration of tourism because of his pivot from China. Nevermind, for the sake of this argument, that tourism died during the Torres administration. Let’s just consider for a moment nonpartisan facts.

Arnold Palacios became the governor in 2023.

CCP influence has been a problem since at least the 1980s.

Aside from natural disasters, every major economic, financial, and nearly every social problem the CNMI has faced since then can be traced to CCP-connected money laundering, bribery of public officials, land leases, Saipan development scams correlated directly to mainland China defunct housing scandals, labor abuses, human trafficking, funding of candidates to be unwitting or even willful operatives of the CCP, and of course, the casinos.

There have been two constants throughout that time, and neither of them were Arnold Palacios: HANMI and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. Even Ralph Torres, despite his hooligan regime, can’t be named as a consistent party to this outrage. He was simply late to the party.

Now, we are far from saying that Mr. Palacios bears no responsibility for the current state of tourism. We have been advocating for the past two years (and when I say ‘we,’ I mainly mean Mabel Doge Luhan) for the governor and the legislature to make sweeping changes in how Saipan is marketed to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. It is absolutely true that opportunities were lost and major money squandered by Marianas Visitors Authority since Mr. Palacios took office. It is absolutely true that the Commonwealth Legislature allowed MVA to spend, travel, and contract with impunity since the INDEMs took control. It is absolutely true that public officials did nothing publicly to rein in MVA and demand reform and fidelity to its charter.

And it continues to be our opinion that both the governor and the legislature need to take responsibility, and become aggressive in abolishing MVA and having the governor hire actual experts in marketing to source markets to get tourists to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. INDEMs, if you won’t have the courage to think about this objectively, then at least consider the politics of this: If you don’t do something to get Japanese and Korean tourists to Saipan, you’ll continue to be blamed for the perception that you’re stopping Chinese tourists from feeding the mouths of the people who clearly are struggling from the CNMI’s recession.

And if you continue to dignify HANMI and the Chamber with your niceties and your acceptance of invitations to their events while they bash you with half truths and the gaslighting of the public, then you’re the fools. Support the Marianas Business Network instead, if you want to show your support for struggling small businesses.

Public officials, I suggest you take lessons from Celina Roberto Babauta and Marissa Flores. Their track records show they truly don’t care whether they offend the oligarchy, and they have no problems introducing legislation and fighting for policies to dismantle it. They may not get it right all the time, but they sure as heck take the side of the common man every chance they get.