Pacific Daily News
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
A meeting among Pacific island lawmakers yesterday included discussion on the "down side" of the proposed military buildup on Guam that might spill over into other parts of the Micronesia region.
While the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures discussed jobs and other economic opportunities stemming from the proposed buildup, some of the delegates to the association's 27th general assembly expressed concern about the social impacts, said Sen. J. Kalani English, a Hawaii state legislator.
English is the association's incoming president.
Some of the Guam senators participating in the general assembly pointed out that while old, World War II-era military dump sites on Guam still need to be completely cleaned up, the island is on the brink of another military expansion, English said.
"Very substantive level of issues" were discussed at the association's general assembly, English said. The meeting opened Monday and ends today.
Sabino Sauchomal, the association's current president and a legislator from the Federated States of Micronesia, said he hopes the military buildup will open up job opportunities for people from the FSM.
The FSM has carpenters, electricians, masons and other construction-skilled workers, he said.
While Guam has many skilled workers, Sauchomal said there won't be enough local workers for all the construction projects directly related and stemming from the buildup.
"Guam has a lot of people with skills, but we believe it may need many more," Sauchomal said.
The estimated $15 billion military buildup is expected to require between 15,000 and 20,000 workers at the peak of the construction years, which is planned to take place between 2010 and 2013.
The association passed a number of resolutions yesterday, including one that encourages educational institutions in the Micronesia region to "individually and collectively embark upon an accelerated path to... provide training" for job skills for the buildup.
The association discussed another resolution that asks the U.S. government to provide "adequate financial impact assistance" to Guam, Hawaii and the Northern Marianas for the education, health and social services the host islands provide to immigrants from FSM, Palau and the Marshall Islands.
The regional immigrants are allowed to live on American soil under their governments' free-association agreements with the U.S. government.
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