A bill that would open a decolonization plebiscite to all Guam voters, rather than native inhabitants only, drew strong opposition during an all-day hearing at the Legislature Wednesday.
With Guam’s decolonization plebiscite on hold as a result of a 2019 federal court ruling, Sen. William Parkinson introduced Bill 242-38.
Parkinson described decolonization as the “single biggest issue that affects everybody on Guam.”
He said the bill was meant to end the stalemate between Guam law supporting CHamoru self-determination and the court ruling, which found the native inhabitant-only voting restriction violated the U.S. Constitution.
Parkinson’s bill would open the decolonization vote to all eligible voters on Guam, meaning any U.S. citizen who has been a resident of the island for at least 30 days.
In a full day of passionate testimony, members of the public said the CHamoru people were the ones who endured centuries of colonization, and the CHamoru people should be the ones who decide their future.
Former Del. Robert Underwood was the first of 42 people to testify, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
“We are being asked to challenge a principle that the island has formally followed for decades and advocated for generations, the decolonization of the people who were, in fact, colonized,” Underwood said. “This is the fundamental principle behind CHamoru self-determination. It's not the CHamoru-only vote. It is the process for freeing the island of its colonial past as well as present.”
He said the quest for self-determination has become “almost impossible, by the implementation of a U.S. constitutional rule which now allows the colonizer to decide who can participate in decolonization.”
Melvin Won Pat-Borja of the Commission on Decolonization said there is no clear answer to ending the political stalemate. He said those who crafted the plebiscite law knew there would be challenges, and that Guam might lose those challenges.
“I don't have the answer for your policy fix. You know why? Because we're not a fully self-governing nation. That's why the answer does not lie in this body, ladies and gentlemen. It does not. But us as a people, our elected officials in 1997 putting it in policy in black and white on the record, this is where we stand,” he said. “And you can take us to court, and you can beat us out, and you can deny us a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court. You can do all that, but it does not change the fact that this is our inherent human right, and we will never give up this right.”
Angela Santos said the pain of the CHamoru people was apparent among those who testified Wednesday.
“I plead with you, withdraw this bill. It's ridiculous. Not on Guåhan. Not while we are alive.”
Some of those who testified expressed disappointment in Parkinson.
Parkinson’s father, Don Parkinson, was the speaker of the 23rd Guam Legislature, which unanimously passed the bill creating the Commission on Decolonization to oversee the CHamoru self-determination plebiscite. The bill was vetoed by the governor at the time, but the Legislature overrode the veto in early January 1997.
Senators said the hearing on Bill 242-38 would be continued at a future date to accommodate more than 60 people who signed up but were unable to testify.
