Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) share the Marianas Archipelago, yet their political ties to the U.S. are distinctly different. How did this divide come to be? KPRG’s Bryan Manabat unpacks the history.
This story kicks off Current Perspectives, KPRG’s new podcast exploring the people, practices, and issues shaping the region. Listen to the full episode now, and stay tuned for more stories in the coming weeks!
TRANSCRIPT
HOST/NAINA RAO: Guam and CNMI are from the same Marianas Archipelago, yet in the same breath, both are distinctively different in their political relationship with the United States. To understand how we got here, KPRG’s Bryan Manabat takes us back in time.
BRYAN MANABAT/BYLINE: Guam never voted to become a territory. It was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898, and the island officially became a U.S. territory under the Guam Organic Act of 1950. Today, its Commission on Decolonization is exploring options for greater self-determination. CNMI’s path was different. After being under German and then Japanese colonial rule, it became part of a U-N trust territory under U-S administration, after World War Two. The goal was to help these islands move toward self-governance or independence. In 1975, the people of the CNMI voted to become a U-S Commonwealth, creating a closer political relationship with the U-S while maintaining local self-government.
ROBERT UNDERWOOD: They are actually part of the same chain of islands and basically the same people that have been separated at birth as political entities.
MANABAT: Robert Underwood is Guam’s former congressional delegate. He says while CNMI may have more autonomy than other territories, it is still under the plenary authority of the U-S Congress. But despite political differences, Guam and CNMI share deep cultural roots including language, seafaring traditions, and local medicinal practices. That’s according to John Castro, a Chamorro cultural practitioner on Saipan.
JOHN CASTRO: Sea voyaging, the weaving, the food harvesting, the fishing practice, the practice of knowing, weather forecasting. Yeah, these are all the like the key, because, you know, actually when, when we showcase our culture, it's not just the grass skirts and singing. It's a survival skill that we're actually showcasing. It's how we live.
MANABAT: But he worries that younger generations are losing touch with these traditions, especially as native Chamorro speakers decline.
CASTRO: When you don't have the activities to do, what traditional work is, crafts, or whatever it is, when you stop that, it's done. No more perpetuating because it's lost… and it's very crucial because the language is a very big part. For, in that activity, the language is hidden, it's there.
MANABAT: Guam and CNMI’s separate political paths have also prevented reunification. In an email response to K-P-R-G, attorney Howard Willens, who helped negotiate CNMI’s Commonwealth status, says no other U-S territory has a status like the CNMI’s. And the U-S Courts recognize the sharp distinction between Guam and CNMI as separate entities. But Underwood says…
UNDERWOOD: They are an unincorporated territory with a unique agreement. But it doesn’t mean that that agreement cannot be changed. It’s under congressional authority if they wanted to.
MANABAT: Willens notes that the U-S government, especially the Interior Department, believes the CNMI Covenant went too far in meeting CNMI’s autonomy and has since vowed to never limit its authority by agreeing that certain matters require the ‘mutual consent’ of the government and territories. Still, Robert Underwood says a Guam and CNMI reunification has been considered before.
UNDERWOOD: Guam and CNMI can reunify only if they both agree to enter a different political status together.
MANABAT: But their different political histories have prevented the pursuit of reunification following the results of a 1969 plebiscite. Despite this, efforts to unify both territories have not waned. Summits like One Marianas continue the conversation of unification.
UNDERWOOD: In other words, if Guam and CNMI got together and became the independent nation of the Marianas, it would be a very viable nation.
MANABAT: Though past efforts have stalled, Underwood emphasizes that reunification isn’t impossible. And despite their different relationship with the U-S, Guam and CNMI remain linked... by history, culture, and a shared identity shaped by both Chamorro heritage and American democratic values. For KPRG’s Current Perspectives, I’m Bryan Manabat, in Saipan.
KPRG News transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a KPRG contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of KPRG's programming is the audio record.
