[AFP video. Source: inquirer.net]
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
1944 Aslito airfield photo does not show Earhart’s plane
From CDR William H. Balden, USNR collection |
BY ALEXIE VILLEGAS ZOTOMAYOR
Associate Editor / Reporter
Marianas Variety
www.mvariety.net
A photograph of Aslito airfield taken
right after the invasion of Saipan reveals that Amelia Earhart’s plane
was not in the hangar as some people claimed.
In an email to Variety, inventor and Amelia Earhart researcher and
aficionado David F. Pawlowski said, “I have to be very honest with you
and say up front that further research on the image in question revealed
that it likely does NOT show Amelia Earhart’s Electra. The image likely
shows just more Japanese fighter aircraft that were known to be
captured at the airfield when it was overrun after being found largely
deserted the morning of June 18, 1944.”
The photo Pawlowski was referring to is
one of the photographs in the collection of CDR William H. Balden, USNR, who documented
his World War II service.
Pawlowski told Variety that one of the
Japanese Zero’s found in Aslito airfield is now in the U.S. Air &
Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Pawlowski described for Variety that the
photo “shows a Marine guard on an outer perimeter to one of the central
hangars. If you blow up the photo you can see in the background a pair
of U.S. Navy Shore Patrol equipped with their regulation Sam Brown belts
standing in front of a tarped aircraft. Another shot I found suggests
the aircraft seen in the background in the hangar are Japanese Zeros.”
Pawlowski also said the photo shows a Japanese aircraft captured on Aslito airfield.
“The photo was taken in the central
region of the original airfield prior to its radical reconstruction by
U.S. Navy Seabees. The photo was taken by a U.S. Naval Aviator flying
off of the USS Enterprise, Lt. William Balden. He and his fellow
aviators, as well as a P-47 fighter group from the US Army Air Corps
were rapidly put on the island during the drive by the USMC and Army on
central and northern Saipan and were also tasked to bomb neighboring
Tinian in the days before, during and after the invasion on that
island,” said Pawlowski.
He also said that the same group of
fliers participated in the confrontation between the Imperial Japanese
Navy and the U.S. Navy known as the “Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
Pawlowski also told Variety that several
official Naval photos exist of Admiral Nimitz as well as the Chief of
Naval Operations Admiral King visiting Aslito airfield on Saipan to
speak to USMC General Holland Smith and the ranking general of the U.S.
Army in July of 1944.
Pawlowski said at least one enlisted man
has claimed in public to have seen what he believed was the highest
ranking Navy leadership at the alleged hangar site believed to be
containing Earhart’s plane.
He also said there were other
photographs showing Nimitz briefing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
just a few weeks later at Pearl Harbor in the company of Admiral Leahy
and General Douglas MacArthur known to be debating the future course of
the war — either to invade the Philippines first, invade Taiwan or
invade Iwo Jima and begin forward basing of an air bombing and invasion
fleet.
To verify whether the stories of
Earhart’s plane being hidden in a hangar in Aslito were true, Pawlowski
said the answers may be found in the archives.
“If the anecdotes and hearsay claims are
true regarding Earhart’s presence on Saipan as late as April or May of
1944, it is quite plausible that officers and enlisted types may have
taken pictures of Earhart’s plane with their personal cameras before the
area was secured and the decision on high was made to destroy it.”
Citing what he called the conspiracy
theory lore of Earhart on Saipan, Pawlowski said the Roosevelt
administration and the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence dropped a
blanket of secrecy on the matter.
“Any photos taken by Naval, Marine or
Army combat photographers were confiscated and forwarded to the U.S.
Navy Office of Naval Intelligence for collection (and most likely
destruction),” said Pawlowski.
He also said Admiral Nimitz returned to
Pearl Harbor and met personally with Admiral Leahy — personal chief of
staff to President Roosevelt and unofficial vice president —President
Roosevelt and General MacArthur in August of 1944 at Pearl Harbor.
“The only photos that likely show
anything of interest are now in private hands but likely hidden from
view much like historic accounts now coming forward from Chammorans
[Chamorros] on Saipan or Guam or from aging U.S. military veterans or
possibly even former residents and their families living in Japan,” said
Pawlowski.
Pawlowski said, given the untimely death
of President Roosevelt in 1945, and the attributed comments made by
Harry Truman in April 1945 that he was kept in the dark on virtually
everything — e.g., The Manhattan atomic bomb project — that was being
run by the president and his military staff that effectively ran the
country with little oversight from a prying Congress.
“It is plausible that anything related
to Earhart was looked upon as a distraction given the pressing need to
win the war in the Pacific. If the famed U.S. Navy cryptographers had
ever intercepted a Japanese diplomatic or military message and
determined that Earhart was present or had died on Saipan then they
likely would have made any search for information a very low priority
for action after the war's conclusion,” he said.
He also said that it is known in the
open literature that Jackie Cochran, the flier friend of Earhart and
wife of Floyd Odlum — American millionaire who helped run Howard Hughes’
business holdings — was tasked by the U.S. Army Generals to immediately
enter Japan in uniform just days after the surrender.
“It is also known that she is claimed to
have gone through the Japanese military intelligence files looking for
unspecified records. She wrote later in her autobiography that she found
only press clippings regarding Earhart. If some of the wild rumors are
true and the U.S. military intelligence actually located a movie of
Amelia ‘confessing’ to being a spy, then it long ago disappeared into
the dust bin of history to protect the powerful politicians and military
leaders from accusations that they failed Earhart and Noonan,” said
Pawlowski.
He also said, “We will likely never know
what happened to Earhart and Noonan, but like so many Chammoros,
Japanese and Americans who died in the tragedy that was WWII, all their
cherished memories will be kept alive lest we forget the past and doom our selves to repeating it.”
For those interested to see a copy of the photo, go to the archives of the National Museum of Naval Aviation http://collections.naval.aviation.museum/emuwebdoncoms/pages/collections/ResultsList.php
Amelia Earhart is seen inspecting fuel containers in this file photo. Contributed photo |
Monday, May 27, 2013
Pentagon: US not reestablishing bases in the Philippines
Pentagon: US not
reestablishing bases in the Philippines
By Alexie Villegas Zotomayor
avz@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
EVEN as the U.S. pivots toward Asia, it is not considering
reviving its former military bases in the Philippines according to the
Pentagon.
Defense Press Officer for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs
Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson told Variety, “The United States does not seek to
re-establish military bases in the Philippines. We fully respect the Philippine
constitution, which restricts conditions for the establishment of foreign
military bases and the entry of foreign forces.”
Lt. Col. Wilkinson said that when U.S. forces visit
Philippine military bases, they work in cooperation with the Armed Forces of
the Philippines.
“U.S. troops are instructed to behave as guests and fully
respect the sovereignty of the Philippines.
We have no intention or desire to change this method of operations,”
assured Wilkinson.
Other media reports claim there could be a revival of the
former Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base in the Philippines in the face of
the tensions in the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea.
The Pentagon clarifies the United States is not reopening
the bases.
"We appreciate the close support of the Philippines
government to allow U.S. ships and aircraft to call in Subic Bay and Clark
Field. The Philippines continue to provide logistical service at these
converted facilities due to their strategic locations and extensive
capacity. Any U.S. forces present are
there temporarily and approved by the government of the Republic of the
Philippines,” said Lt. Col. Wilkinson.
She added, “As a Pacific nation, the United States has a
national interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for
international law, freedom of navigation, and unimpeded lawful commerce in the
South China Sea. We support a
collaborative and diplomatic process by all claimants to resolve their
disputes.
The United States opposes the
use of coercion, intimidation, threats, or force by any claimant to advance its
claims. We believe all parties should
pursue their territorial and maritime claims in accordance with international
law, including as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.”
Lt. Wilkinson also said that the United States supports
efforts by the Association of South East Asian Nations and China to make
meaningful progress toward finalizing a comprehensive Code of Conduct in order
to establish rules of the road and clear procedures for addressing
disagreements.
“The United States continues to pursue a principles-based
policy on the South China Sea. We do not
take a position on competing sovereignty claims over land features in the South
China Sea,” said Lt. Col. Wilkinson.
Asked for comment regarding talks in Japan to amend Article
9 of the Japanese Constitution and change the top law to stipulate that the
Self-Defense Forces are a military force, Lt. Col. Wilkinson said, “Collective
self-defense is a decision for Japan to make.
The Defense Department welcomes Japan's efforts to assume a larger role
on the world stage, including in defense issues. Japan is one of our closest allies and global
partners; our alliance has been the cornerstone of peace and security in the
region for more than 60 years."
According to Wikipedia, Subic Naval Base was a major U.S.
Navy ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility. Its Navy Exchange
had the largest volume of sales of any exchange in the world, and the Naval
Supply Depot handled the largest volume of fuel oil of any navy facility in the
world.
This naval base became the U.S. Seventh Fleet forward base
for repair during the height of the Vietnam War.
Subic base was closed in 1992, a year after Clark Air Base’s
closure.
Clark Air Base, named after Maj. Harold M. Clark, of the
U.S. Army Signal Corps, was closed in 1991 following the eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo.
This was a United States military facility from 1903 to
1991.
Northern Marianas faces Pritchard 'option'
BY ALEXIE VILLEGAS ZOTOMAYOR
Associate editor / reporter
www.mvariety.net
THE Northern Marianas pension agency
will be bankrupt if the government fails to shore up its funding to meet
pension obligations but neither the Retirement Fund nor the CNMI, which
is considered a “state,” can file for bankruptcy to seek relief and the
commonwealth may just to end up like Pritchard, Alabama which simply
stopped paying retirees their monthly pensions.
The CNMI, as a plan sponsor, stands to
assume the pension liabilities of the Retirement Fund, which is
projected to run out of money on March 1, 2014.
Variety asked some lawyers if the CNMI municipalities, instead of the central government, can file for Chapter 9.
Attorney Michael Dotts said, “You raise
an interesting question. Could Rota, Tinian, and Saipan as
municipalities of the CNMI file bankruptcy? There is no precedent for
each senatorial district doing so and because the debt is centralized
with the CNMI government, I don't think each municipality filing
bankruptcy would accomplish the discharge of what is owed to the
retirees.”
The CNMI, whose current budget is $120 million, needs at least $70 million a year to pay retirees their pensions.
Elsewhere in the U.S., some cities have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy due to staggering pension obligations.
According to Dotts, “I am sure Rota,
Tinian and Saipan could find law firms willing to try if they pay the
attorneys up front to file the bankruptcies like what happened when the
Fund itself tried filing bankruptcy.”
Last year, the Retirement Fund sought
bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, but U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert
J. Faris dismissed the petition claiming that the Fund is a
governmental unit and is not eligible to file for Chapter 11 petition.
Dotts said states, such as the CNMI, cannot file for bankruptcy because they have the power to raise taxes to pay their debts.
“The unfortunate solution (and I hate to
even mention this as I am a taxpayer) is for the CNMI to impose a new
tax to pay the retirees once the Fund itself runs out of cash,” said
Dotts.
The CNMI could also impose a sales tax or a property tax, he added.
“Even with Article XII [which restricts land ownership to indigenous people] a property tax is possible,” he said.
Another bankruptcy expert in the CNMI,
former Superior Court Judge Attorney Timothy Bellas, said the questions
raised by Variety require research.
“Your questions are not ones that I or
anyone else deals with on a regular basis in the CNMI. As you know, the
NMI Retirement Fund recently unsuccessfully tried to file [for
bankruptcy petition] and they hired a Boston law firm, who even though
they charged over a $1 million in fees, came up with the wrong opinion
according to Judge Farris,” said Bellas.
He said these issues “require
substantial research and would constitute a legal opinion which I cannot
give you without performing such research.”
While Chapter 9, he said, is normally
used for such cases, when the bankruptcy code was written there was no
provision made for entities such as the CNMI.
“So the CNMI we now know cannot file but whether the municipal governments can is a different question,” he said.
He told Variety that there is at least one case in federal court that defines the status of the Tinian municipality.
“As long as the CNMI municipal governments meet the other requirements they may be able to,” he said.
“Whether the [Retirement Fund]
obligation can be apportioned to them, however, is another large
question and cannot be accepted without research. However, my
inclination would be to guess ‘no.’ Think about it in the personal
context. One person who has some money, land and other assets decides
that he cannot file bankruptcy because he would lose all of his assets.
So he assigns his debt to another person and then that person who has
nothing files a BK case and gets rid of the debt. That is not the
purpose of the bankruptcy code which is to give people a ‘fresh start’
who have fallen on hard times.”
The case of Pritchard, Alabama is seen
as a legal precedent on whether the constitutionally protected promises
to the retirees could be reduced.
CNMI Gov. Eloy S. Inos had indicated in an earlier interview that pension cuts is not an option for the government.
In an earlier interview with Variety,
bankruptcy expert and Illinois lawyer James E. Spiotto of Chapman and
Cutler LLP said that most municipalities will do almost anything to
avoid filing a Chapter 9 bankruptcy because of the market stigma.
Variety learned that there are 12 states
in the nation that specifically authorize municipal bankruptcies and
another 12 states that conditionally authorize such a legal remedy.
Spiotto said governmental bodies
generally prefer to resolve their financial emergencies through other
means such as receivership, refinancing and other resolution mechanisms.
He said filing for bankruptcy does not
provide any additional tax revenue but has additional costs for the
bankruptcy process that only increases liquidity problems.
Citing records, Spiotto said there have
been 636 Chapter 9 filings since 1937 out of over 80,000 municipalities.
He said in 2011, there were over 11,000 Chapter 11 filings.
Spiotto, a University of Chicago Law
School alumnus, said if pension obligations are unsustainable and
unaffordable, then “adjustments” may be required to ensure retirees will
continue to be paid and public services will continue to be provided.
Spiotto said the other options include raising taxes and refinancing of unfunded obligations.
The hallmark of a good resolution, he
added, “is a quick effective permanent fix (not a Band-Aid) that assures
workers of the payment of their retirement (possibly with some
reduction) with dedicated funding of payments and assurance that
essential governmental services are provided.”
The Alabama Supreme Court allowed the
city of Pritchard to move ahead with its bankruptcy petition at about
the same time the Northern Marianas pension fund filed for Chapter 11 in
April last year.
Prichard filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy
protection due in part to its failed municipal pension plan. For more
information about the city’s pension woes, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
From the Philippines to the Marianas: Pottery and early settlements
From the Philippines to the Marianas: Pottery and early settlements
For those who haven't read this article, please follow link.
For those who haven't read this article, please follow link.
From the Philippines to the Marianas: Pottery and early settlements
From the Philippines to the Marianas: Pottery and early settlements
For those who haven't read this article, please follow link.
For those who haven't read this article, please follow link.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
From the Philippines to the Marianas: Pottery and early settlements
Pottery samples from Cagayan, Saipan and Lapita. |
By Alexie Villegas Zotomayor
Associate Editor
Marianas Variety
www.mvariety.com
THE discovery of similar red-slipped
pottery with dentate stamping, among other artifacts from Cagayan,
Northern Philippines and the Marianas lends credence to the theory of
direct settlement of the Marianas from the Northern Philippines.
Dr. Mike T. Carson and his wife Dr. Hsiao-chun Hung, of Australia
National University, have been conducting archaeological work on Tinian
as they look into early human settlements in the Marianas.
Dr. Hung, who has been studying human
settlements in Asia and the Pacific islands, began her work in the
northern Philippines as early as 1995 while she was pursuing her
master’s degree.
She noted that in the Philippines the pottery dates back to 4,000 years ago.
“Around
4000 years ago, they started using pottery, the same type we found in
the Marianas,” said Dr. Hung referring to the northern Philippines sites
where they unearthed potsherds, among other artifacts.
Dr.
Hung told Variety that she also studied pottery and tools from Japan
and Taiwan, but none of these samples are similar to those found in the
Marianas.
[She found the Cagayan and Marianas sites similar.—avz]
For Dr. Hung, not only were there similarities in pottery, there were linguistic parallels too.
Dr. Carson explains further. He said they found it interesting how early the Marianas were settled.
By
dating the archeological sites, Dr. Carson said they traced the
movements of people from Asia to the
Pacific, beginning with China, then
Taiwan, the Philippines, and the Pacific.
Dr. Carson said it was in Taiwan — the
first time outside the Asian continent — where they saw a type of
pottery with a distinctive style. They also found an archaeological site
that indicated people had been living in long-term settlements.
But
at archeological sites in the Northern Philippines, specifically in
Cagayan, in the Marianas and in the Lapita region, they found more
similar pottery styles.
He pointed out that the “shared pottery style doesn’t happen by accident. People are reproducing the same style.”
This was what attracted their attention.
Dr.
Carson said that through radiocarbon dating, they determined the
Philippine pottery was the oldest at 4,000 years. “In the Marianas, it
dates back to about 3,500 years while Lapita in Melanesia, it is
slightly later.”
“They have the same styles maintained over hundreds of years,” said Dr. Carson.
In
an article published in The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology,
Dr. Carson, Dr. Hung, Dr. Glenn Summerhayes and Dr. Peter Bellwood
stated that the three major techniques of point-impression, rows of
circles, and fine-line incision are found in the Philippines, Marianas
and earliest Lapita assemblages.
Examples
of rare paddle impressions, the archaeologists said, in which vessel
exteriors were impressed by using carved paddles, “are extremely few in
the Philippines and the Marianas.”
They
said none have been found so far in the Lapita region where the
paddle-impressed pottery is found in later-settled Lapita areas in New
Calendonia.
Dr.
Carson told Variety they compared five ceramic attributes between the
earliest Philippines, Marianas and Lapita collections: (1) use of red
slip; (2) vessel forms; (3) placement of decoration; (4) decorative
techniques; (5) artistic motifs.
Dr. Carson said they looked at the decorative system which is critical in making cross-regional comparisons and connections.
Dr.
Carson pointed to an earlier study made by Professor Bellwood,
professor of Archaeology at the School of Archaeology and Anthropology
of the Australian National University in Canberra, in which he said that
the earliest pottery in the Philippines has been found in the Batanes
islands and in several sites in the Cagayan Valley, in northern
Philippines.
He
said the predominantly red-slipped pottery appeared approximately
2000-1800 B.C. while the earliest red-slipped pottery in the Marianas
dates to around 1500 B.C.
However,
red-slipped pottery diminished in the sub-equator site of Lapita where
the oldest red-slipped pots were found in Kamgot.
Dr.
Carson said the early pots found in the Philippines and the Marianas
were both small jars and bowls “often with carinated shoulders.”
However, he said, the difference lies in the Philippine jars having a hollow-ring foot while samples from the Marianas do not.
He said the Lapita collections are more diverse, with intricate dentate-stamped decoration.
Migration out of the Philippines
For
Carson and other archaeologists who have conducted studies in the
region, they believe that migration began in the Philippines and
Indonesia, to the north coast of New Guinea and into Melanesia.
They also believe that there was another migration route going directly to the Marianas.
“That would be entirely over the ocean,” he said.
Dr.
Carson said it could be the longest ocean crossing of its time, a
voyage encompassing 2,000 km of ocean — not island hopping.
He posed the question: could there be multiple migration routes from Asia to the Pacific?
He
also raised the question of the seafaring technology employed by the
early settlers of the Marianas, what kind of boats were used.
Dr. Carson said they have yet to excavate a 3,000-year-old canoe.
“Until we have something like that, we can’t really answer that question. But it is important to keep that in mind,” he said.
Dr. Mike T. Carson and Dr. Hsiao-chun Hung |
Tinian excavations
The
Carson couple has been conducting extensive work at a site north of the
House of Taga on Tinian which has yielded more than 30,000 potsherds
and human remains.
He
said the excavation on Tinian was a great success and he recognized the
assistance from the CNMI Historic Preservation Office and the Tinian
Mayor’s Office, as well as from volunteers.
Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung were able to
expose “the living surface of one of the very first habitation sites in
the Mariana Islands, slightly inland from today’s House of Taga.”
“This
location was right on the old seashore about 3500 years ago. We found
the remains of old house structures, cooking areas, and concentrations
of different types of artifacts that help us to reconstruct what people
were doing at the site,” he said.
For Dr. Carson, their latest work on
Tinian which they concluded in March 2013 gave them a clear picture of
what life was like in the Marianas 3,500 years ago “when people lived
for the first time on the remote and small islands of the Pacific.”
He said, “At the site just inland of
House of Taga the original habitation layer has been remarkably well
preserved, plus we were able to uncover a large contiguous area of the
best preserved portion. As a result, we now can draw definite
conclusions about this important period in Marianas culture history and
about humanity’s first contact with the remote Oceanic environment.”
But for Dr. Carson, there is no rush because their work requires thorough analysis of the evidence.
“Dr Hung and I are taking every precaution and exercising as much patience as we can,” said Carson.
Dr. Carson said what drew their attention was the oldest decorated pottery.
“It’s the best opportunity to learn
about the technical skills, artistic output, and daily lives of the
people who lived at the site,” said Dr. Carson.
He told Variety that the pottery was all locally made with red-clay and mixed with local sands.
They also found lumps of partly-worked clay not yet finished into the final pots.
“The very first people to live here,
therefore, knew how to find and manage the raw materials, as well as how
to use a complex decorative system of tiny dentate-stamped and
circle-stamped motifs,” said Carson.
From the perspective of the Asia Pacific
region, Dr. Carson said, “We now are seeing the same decorative system
in different regions, and we can trace the trail through archaeological
dating.”
Following the so-called “pottery trail,”
reveals the routes of people who first settled in the remote islands of
the Pacific, according to Dr. Carson.
He
said, “According to the dating, the oldest settlement in the Remote
Oceanic islands was in the
Marianas, about 3500 years ago, now confirmed
at three sites on Guam, two on Tinian, and another three on Saipan.”
He added that among these sites, the
deep layer inland of House of Taga has provided the most abundant
material evidence and all in excellent context.
“The site of course contains much more
than just pottery. We are busy examining the animal bones, shellfish
remains, stone and shell tools, and many shell ornaments. We are even
looking at artifacts and samples of the sediments under a microscope,
where we can identify starches and other traces of the plant-foods that
people ate at the site. Additionally, all of this information can be
coordinated with the spatial lay-out of the ancient house structures at
the site,” he said.
DNA study
Asked if they intend to conduct a
mitochondrial DNA study of the human skeletons found on Tinian, Dr. Hung
told Variety that they might just do that.
“If we can find early human skeletons, we can do isotope studies or DNA analysis,” she said.
The couple recently revealed to Variety
that one of the bones uncovered in five burial sites north of the House
of Taga was dated at 700 years old, two hundred years before Ferdinand
Magellan’s expedition.
Dr. Carson said they look forward to
completing the dating of the bones found and they are excited about
coming back to continue their work on the early human settlements in the
region.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Northern Marianas indengeous oppose military activities on Pagan island
BY ALEXIE VILLEGAS ZOTOMAYOR
Associate editor / reporter
Marianas Variety
Saipan, CNMI, USA
www.mvariety.com
OVER what they consider potential
irreparable harm to the environment and the people, the indigenous
people of the islands through the Northern Marianas Descent Corporation
passed a resolution opposing the U.S. military proposal to develop
live-fire ranges and training areas on Pagan island.
The resolution, signed by NMD Corp.
officers — Ana S. Teregeyo, president; Karl T. Reyes, vice president;
Daniel O. Quitugua, secretary; and Rose Taman Ada-Hocog, treasurer —on
May 10, “unequivocally oppose[s] and unanimously disapprove[s] the
proposed U.S. military development and tactical exercise activities on
our culturally, historically, and environmentally rich, serene and
irreplaceable homeland island of Pagan unlike any other on earth.”
For the NMD’s, the proposed military
development will “irreparably” impact and devastate the fragile
environmental, historic, cultural and human resources not only of Pagan
“but of the entire Northern Mariana Island archipelago.”
They
also believe that the proposed military development undermines and
violates provisions of Article I, Section 105 and Article VIII, Sections
805 and 806 of the Covenant.
They
recommend that the U.S. military “steadfastly take into consideration
and unequivocally, unmistakably, unambiguously, and unwaveringly respect
and honor the intent and spirit of the said articles and sections of
the Covenant as mutually agreed to by the U.S. government and the CNMI
government.”
The
NMD’s also highlighted that an integral and requisite element of the
public scoping process for any proposed impact of and by the U.S.
military’s actions is “unconditional compliance” with the Section 106
process of the National Historic and Preservation Act.
For
the NMD’s, the U.S. military’s strict adherence to the Section 106
process means the U.S. military “must unequivocally comply to prevent
potential adverse effects on historic properties such as archeological
sites, historic buildings and structures, and traditional cultural
properties considered sacred to the heritage and traditions of
indigenous Chamorros and Carolinians.”
In opposing the proposal by the U.S.
military to use Pagan for joint military exercises, the NMD’s pointed
out that the military has historically conducted “covert operations” —
keeping secret what they use or plan to use that may be harmful to the
environment and the people.
They said the military left behind storage facilities that held tons of polychlorinated byphenyls.
In early 2000, Variety reported that
several sites near the old cemetery in Tanapag had between 1 ppm and 2
ppm of PCBs. The Army Corps of Engineers and contractor Environmental
Chemical Corp. subsequently excavated the sites and started the cleanup.
For the NMDs, these leftover PCB materials and fuel, have over the decades caused contamination on the island.
They also cited unexploded ordnance and ammunition that have posed a danger to residents and the environment.
Former
House Speaker Pedro R. Deleon Guerrero, in his personal opinion and as a
person of Northern Marianas descent himself, supports the NMD
Corporation resolution.
“I am very much concerned about those things,” he said referring to the dangers cited by the NMD resolution.
As the NMDs are wary that Pagan or Tinian may repeat the incidents in Puerto Rico and in Hawaii, they would like to consider reserving the islands for future generations of people of Northern Marianas descent.
Deleon
Guerrero, referring to the resolution, cited the incidents on Puerto
Rico’s Vieques Island and the Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii’s Big
Island and Schofield ranges on Oahu.
He recalled that Puerto Ricans and residents of Vieques Island called for the immediate cessation of bombing.
Deleon Guerrero also pointed out “that
the military is known to keep secrets, not really being truthful about
the types of weaponry and other things that may be harmful to the
immediate environment and the people.”
Deleon Guerrero says “The military should be honest.”
He, along with the NMDs, decried how the
military proposal for Pagan would add more restrictions including those
on “miles and miles of air space that may be detrimental to the
economic development of the island.”
As to Tinian, Deleon Guerrero said the people back in the 1970s were promised a military economy.
“Where is that military economy? For the longest time, they have not contributed to the economy,” he said.
Deleon Guerrero also emphasized the need to think about the needs of the islands in terms of supporting future generations.
“For these reasons, I am not in favor until the military can prove otherwise,” said Deleon Guerrero.
The U.S. military is proposing
combined-level training alternatives on Pagan and intends to use the
entire island with a full spectrum of weapons and joint-training
activities.
Of the 14 CNMI islands, the U.S.
military sees the combination of Pagan and Tinian as meeting the 42
unfilled training requirements.
Based on a military assessment, development of combined-level ranges and training areas on Pagan is feasible.
The U.S. military also hopes to use Pagan’s many beaches to support amphibious-operations training.
They also see that the airspace surrounding Pagan is unencumbered by flight restrictions.
It also meets the mobility-corridors criterion.
With no population, Pagan is seen capable of supporting naval-gunfire training and aviation-ordnance-delivery training.
Early 20th century photos of Micronesians on display
(CNMI Judiciary) — The
Pacific Collection photo exhibit, courtesy of the CNMI Museum of History
and Culture, is now on display in the Hillblom Library at the
judiciary’s Guma’ Hustisia-Iimwal Aweewe-House of Justice in Susupe.
Taken by Japanese photographers, the
portraits of fishermen at their tasks, dancers in action, and more are
believed to have been intended for Japanese publications of the time.
The collection came into the museum’s possession as a result of a
donation at the beginning of this century and is available for public
viewing during normal business hours of the court facilities.
For more information, call 1-670-236-9716.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Archaeologist uncovers 700-year-old bone
Archaeologist uncovers 700-year-old bone
By Alexie Villegas Zotomayor
Associate Editor / Reporter
Marianas Variety
www.mvariety.com
AN excavation north of Tinian’s House of Taga has turned up a bone approximately 700 years old or approximately 200 years before Magellan’s expedition.
Australia-based archaeologists Dr. Mike T. Carson and wife Dr.
Hsiao-chun Hung, who earlier this year uncovered five ancient human
burials north of the House of Taga, confirmed to Variety that a tooth
from among the bones they uncovered at the site was 700 years old based
on radiocarbon dating.
Following Fr. Pellett’s lead, Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung began their study on the earliest human habitation in the Marianas and they uncovered shards of pottery and human bones in 2011.
Dr. Carson’s and Dr. Hung’s previous trips to Tinian were funded by the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation and the Australia Research Council
By Alexie Villegas Zotomayor
Associate Editor / Reporter
Marianas Variety
www.mvariety.com
Dr. Mike Carson holds a piece of pottery excavated north of the House of Taga on Tinian. |
AN excavation north of Tinian’s House of Taga has turned up a bone approximately 700 years old or approximately 200 years before Magellan’s expedition.
“One
tooth provided a radiocarbon date of about AD 1300, plus or minus some
decades. That’s congruent with our possible date-range, although it’s
closer to the early-end than we originally thought.
That means the child
was buried at the site prior to Spanish contact, definitely within the
same time-range when people were building latte-sets in the vicinity,”
said Dr. Carson.
The tooth was associated with a set of
skeletal remains of a 7- to 8-year-old child, among remains of other
individuals found by the Carson couple on Tinian.
Dr. Carson said, “For the human burials
at the site, we had permission for the radiocarbon dating of one tooth,
from the one nearly-complete burial of a child.”
Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung worked with
Taiwanese anthropologist Dr. Hsiuman Lin of the Taiwan National Museum
of Prehistory on this latest set of human remains.
For the skeletal remains they found in
2011, Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung worked with Japanese anthropologist
Dr
Hirofumi Matsumura of Saporro Medical University.
Dr. Carson explained that the layer with the burial-features was near the present-day surface.
“It was associated with the
latte-building era. That’s much more recent than our primary focus on
the deeper habitation layer, but it’s very important for understanding
more recent centuries,” said Dr. Carson.
He said that, according to pottery-type association, this layer could be dated broadly in a range of AD 1000 through 1700.
“A radiocarbon date from the base of the
layer places it about AD 1200 at its beginning, although people
continued living there for at least a few centuries and presumably all
the way through Spanish contact and into the late 1600s,” said Dr.
Carson.
Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung unearthed
remains of six individuals in the area where Fr. Marcian Pellett found a
deeply buried ancient archaeological site in the 1950s that revealed
finely decorated pottery and the earliest produced in the Marianas.
Following Fr. Pellett’s lead, Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung began their study on the earliest human habitation in the Marianas and they uncovered shards of pottery and human bones in 2011.
The same area north of the House of Taga
yielded more artifacts and bones when Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung returned
early this year to conduct further studies.
As to the other skeletal remains
unearthed early this year, Dr. Carson said, “The other burial remains
all were from the same stratigraphic layer, so these individuals
probably all were buried at the site within a few centuries of each
other. We can begin to understand the site within this context, at least
for this later period.”
He also said that in the lower deposits, no burial remains were found.
“We found no evidence of burials at the
site prior to AD 1000. However, the site contains very important
information about these earlier time periods, as early as 1500-1300 BC.
We continue to concentrate on the data-analysis of these earliest
periods, and we can look forward to more information soon,” he said.
Dr. Carson and Dr. Hung expressed their
gratitude to the Tinian Mayor’s Office and the CNMI Historic
Preservation Office for the assistance they received during the time
they were on Tinian conducting their studies.
Dr. Carson said they hope to return to Tinian and continue their work pending a request for funding.
Dr. Carson’s and Dr. Hung’s previous trips to Tinian were funded by the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation and the Australia Research Council
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
From the Variety archives: More Asians than Pacific islanders in CNMI
CNMI's 2010 census: More Asians than Pacific islanders
Written by By Alexie Villegas Zotomayor - avz@mvariety.com -
Variety News Staff
THERE
are more residents of Asian descent than Pacific Islanders according to the
2010 CNMI Demographic Profile Summary File, Census of Population and Housing.
Of
the 53,883 total population registered during the 2010 Census, 18,800 were
Pacific Islanders while Asians numbered 26,908.
The
report also showed that there were 55 African Americans, 54 Hispanic/Latinos,
1,117 Caucasians, 117 belonging to other ethnic groups, and 6,932 from two or
more ethnic origins.
Of
the 18,800 in total Pacific Islanders or Native Hawaiians residing in the
Northern Marianas as of 2010, there were 2,461, Carolinians; 12,902, Chamorros 1,242, Chuukese 37, Kosraean 68,
Marshallese 1,169, Palauan 425, Pohnpeian 228, Yapese and 268 Native Hawaiian
and other Pacific Islanders.
Meanwhile, Filipinos were the majority among Asians with
a total population of 19,017.
They were followed by Chinese nationals (excluding
Taiwanese), 3,659; Koreans, 2,253; Japanese, 795; Bangladeshis, 501; Thais,
266; Nepalese, 227; other Asians, 190.
As to their distributions in the islands, of the 18,800
Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, 16,210 resided on Saipan; 1,222 on
Tinian; and 1,368 on Rota.
Of the 16,210 Pacific Islanders or Native Hawaiians
residing on Saipan, the majority or 5,716 lived in District 1; 3,718 in
District 3; 3,677 in District 5; 1,626 in District 2; and 1,473 in District 4.
Carolinians, on the other hand, were mostly concentrated
in District 3 where 846 of the total 2,461 registered in the 2010 Census lived;
674, District 1; 201, District 2; 224, District
4; and 501, District 5.
In
2010, there were 12,902 Chamorros in the
CNMI: 10,411 on Saipan; 1,183 on Tinian and 1,308 on Rota.
On Saipan, a majority of the Chamorros or 3,737 resided
in District 1; 1,011, District 2; 1,996, District 3; 973, District 4; and
2,694, District 5.
Most of the Chuukese in the CNMI at the time of the
census were living on Saipan, 1,225 out of the total 1,242.
A Majority of them lived in District 1 (467) and District
3 (432).
1,128 of the 1,169 total Palauans in the CNMI in 2010
lived on Saipan, with a majority of them or 444 in District 1.
As for Asian residents, Filipinos comprised 70.67 percent
of the total Asian population in 2010 and 35.29 percent of the total CNMI
population.
There were 19,017 Filipinos in the CNMI in 2010, 17,285
were on Saipan; 950 on Tinian; and 782 on Rota.
5,151 or 29.80 percent of the total Filipinos on Saipan
resided in District 1; 2,863 or 16.56 percent, District 2; 6,758 or 39.09
percent, District 3; 1,047 or 6.05 percent, District 4 and 1,466 or 8.48
percent, District 5.
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