Pacific Magazine > Magazine > February 1, 2001

Pacific Notes

Pacific Notes

By Aldwin R. Fajardo, Giff Johnson, Gene Ashby, Fili Sagapolutele,

Saipanese Want Action Against Army, EPA
The Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council endorsed the filing of a lawsuit against the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency for their alleged mishandling of the PCB contamination in the Tanapag area of Saipan. The Council adopted a resolution supporting earlier calls for legal action by the Attorney General against the U.S. EPA and the Corps of Engineers, following investigations that these agencies committed gross negligence in carrying out the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in Tanapag village.

At least 17 Tanapag residents have tested positive for PCB contamination primarily because of EPA’s and the Corps of Engineers mishandling of the situation in the area, the Council said. Its concerns stem from an investigation by the AG, which revealed that the two federal agencies violated U.S. cleanup laws.

The report also charges that EPA Region-IX failed to carry out a site-specific baseline risk assessment to help establish the acceptable exposure levels of remediation as mandated under federal law. An EPA policy document called for the evacuation of the area if contamination was near homes. But there was no evacuation, although at that time, the contamination excavated was within close proximity to a residential area, with churches and a school.

Documents have shown that since 1992, the EPA and the Corps of Engineers were aware that groundwater in Tanapag had PCB concentrations of up to 18 times the federal drinking standard. The AG said EPA must take all measures necessary for the protection of the citizens of the CNMI including temporary relocation with the support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

—Aldwin R. Fajardo

ADB, Marshalls Talk $12 Million Loan

ADB's Tilak Sen.

The Marshall Islands is negotiating with the Asian Development Bank for a loan of between $8 and $12 million that will be used to help the government out of its short-term money crisis, while implementing longer-range reforms to improve the Marshall Islands‚ financial situation. Manila-based ADB official Tilak Sen headed a fact-finding mission to Majuro for the loan in late November, and said that the plan is to improve "the whole financial sector" by assisting the government with reorganization and focusing on long-term plans such as building a government trust fund to stabilize its financial situation.

While it normally takes up to 18 months for the ADB to approve a loan, Sen hopes to deliver it in six months, with a target of March, 2001. Both Sen and Foreign Minister Alvin Jacklick confirmed that there will be no further reductions in force as part of the new reform loan. An earlier $12 million loan for government reforms led to about 30 percent of the government workforce being cut.

"In the past, the Marshall Islands spent first," Sen said. "This time, the goal is to save first." A key emphasis of the loan is developing the government’s trust fund and promoting the private sector. "In a small economy, you can’t just turn the switch and the private sector takes over," he said. "It doesn’t happen. It takes time. But the government is faced with budget shortages and high expectations of the public." It’s impossible to suddenly pull the government out of services: "The economy would collapse," he said. Yet the government doesn’t have the money to keep operating at this level.

— By Giff Johnson

Pohnpei Missionary Sentenced for Murder
It was a murder trial on Pohnpei of contrasts after a Salvation Army officer was tried for killing his wife at their residence in Kolonia in early January last year. It involved the missionary and a decidedly unmissionary deed, a Filipina victim, a Pohnpeian judge and a trial that brought together U.S. investigators, church hierarchy, a Guam pathologist and local prosecutors. And it took a long time. From the January 9 tragedy until conviction and sentencing, some ten months passed. Scott Hamel, 32, a Salvation Army officer in the Pohnpei mission, was charged with the homicide after his wife, Janette Mamaland Hamel, was found dead from a beating in the couple’s bedroom. The subsequent investigation involved local law enforcement officers, investigators from Guam, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Since there are no jury trials in the Federated States of Micronesia, the presiding judge was Pohnpei State Supreme Court Chief Justice Judah C. Johnny. He sentenced Hamel to 25 years in jail, 15 of which are suspended. The first 10 years are mandatory jail time since there is reduction for good behavior in the FSM. Hamel is presently out of confinement pending an appeal. It is the first time that an American was tried in a Pohnpei court for a capital offense.

—Gene Ashby

Samoa Refuses to Release $14 M
The $14 million seized by the Samoa Government from accounts in Apia banks last May is assumed by the Samoa Supreme Court to be "proceeds of crime" and won’t be released. Private International Development Bank of American Samoa — which recently had its articles of incorporation revoked by American Samoa Governor Tauese Sunia — has threatened suit to get its money back, and has denied wrong-doing. The company and several Americans are the target of a joint FBI/Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

The action is part of Samoa’s get-tough policy on money laundering. New anti-money laundering legislation went into effect in June that complies with requirements of the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to Papali’i Scanlan, chief executive officer of the government-owned Central Bank of Samoa. Two years ago, FATF placed Samoa on its "black-list" of countries with possible money laundering activities and inadequate anti-money laundering laws — but Samoa was removed from the blacklist the following year, an action Scanlan said "is an indication that Samoa takes its role as a responsible member of the international community seriously." The $14 million allegedly originated with an illegal investment scheme cooked up by three Americans to bilk U.S. investors, according to George Latu, State Solicitor at the Attorney General’s Office in Apia. "Eventually the money will be released to the U.S. government (and then returned) to the investors who knew nothing about the scheme."

The money was seized at the request of the U.S. government. According to Latu, all of the $14 million in Apia is from the same three promoters, who have links to William Cravens, a former American Samoa resident who is the president of PIDB. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington State has issued an injunction against the three promoters of the scheme, who the Seattle Times named as John Wayne Zidar, John Wesley Mathews and Elizabeth Anne Phillips. The SEC and FBI believe the scheme has bilked investors out of $30-$50 million. Samoa Supreme Court Chief Justice Patu F. Sapolu’s rejection of a PIDB motion to release the money was based largely on an affidavit from FBI agent David Rubincam, who says the promoters told potential investors their funds would be invested offshore and would generate a 120 percent return after only a year. Instead, funds were used by promoters to pay their own salaries and commissions, and to purchase expensive cars and two houses in Arizona.

— Fili Sagapolutele

East Carolina Visits the Eastern Carolines
A very small piece of Davey Jones’ locker off Pohnpei is qualified as an American battlefield by the U.S. National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. In the U.S. Civil War, four American whaling ships were sunk in Lohd Harbor, Pohnpei, by the Confederate raider "Shenandoah" and have been resting in pieces ever since. The rebel raider captured "Edward Carey" of San Francisco, the "Hector" of New Bedford, the "Pearl" of New London, and the "Harvest" purportedly of Honolulu, all unarmed, on April 1, 1865. Then they leisurely burned and scuttled the vessels over a 10-day period while their crews frolicked ashore.

For 135 years, these remains lay untouched because they were unlocated off Pohnpei’s southeastern coast, remembered only by Civil War buffs, the odd teacher and a few eager marine anthropologists. Then, in August, Eastern Carolina University (ECU) in the U.S. met the Eastern Caroline Islands in the Federated States of Micronesia. A group of marine studies students arrived on Pohnpei, headed by Ph.D. student Susanne Finney from ECU. With financial assistance from the National Parks Service, the group located, surveyed and mapped the positions of the Yankee shipwrecks. In the silty harbor waters they managed to locate these wreck skeletons and found and photographed metal barrel hoops from the vessels along with iron strapping, copper pins, a possible anchor haws and distinctive keels. Neptune, however, proved stingy after 135 years, claiming most of the wrecks.

—Gene Ashby

Little Change Despite White House Shift
Despite the confusion that plagued electoral politics in Washington after the November 7 election, congressional and other federal government leaders expect little to change for Micronesia in 2001. The presidential election was not decided until just two weeks before Christmas, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejected a recount in Florida, ending Al Gore’s hopes of overcoming the few hundred vote lead held by George W. Bush.

The new Senate is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, with the outcome of the presidential race determining the Senate’s final composition. Since Bush prevailed, Gore’s running mate Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) keeps his Senate seat, but Bush running mate Richard Cheney, as Vice President, will preside over the Senate, giving Republicans at least nominal control of the upper house. Republicans have a clear majority in the House.

But what does all this mean for Micronesia? Probably not much, because most policy affecting the islands is developed by career officials in the Departments of State, Interior, Defense and Justice rather than by political appointees. The bigger question is what will be the general attitude of the new administration and Congress toward government spending.

Observers expect the federal spending pie will be smaller under Bush, who campaigned on a platform of using budget surpluses for tax relief rather than federal programs.

"I don’t foresee any particular difference in how the House will work with Guam," said Democratic Congressman Robert Underwood, adding that island issues have traditionally been nonpartisan in Congress. "If you play party politics, when things change in Washington, you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of political power. I’ve been working with the Republicans in Washington for the past six years and have good relationships with Guam Republicans, too," he said. "We’ll do what we always do: We’ll utilize each other’s strengths to promote issues that are important to everyone on Guam."

—Gregory Glass

Tonga, Nauru DNA Deals Spark Debate
To some it is pure science, to others it’s just raw capitalism gone to worst extreme. The Kingdom of Tonga, proud of its claim that it was never colonized, has sold its genes to an Australian football club owner. It’s not the first island to sign a deal over its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the building blocks of life. In 1997 Nauru did a deal of its gene pool and last year the people of Iceland also licensed their DNA. Patents are being sought forgenes taken from people in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons. The advocates say it could offer new hope for all humanity by coming up with genetic techniques to beat old diseases. But opponents say by finding significant genes in, for example, Tongan people the Australian company could patent it and make millions out of something that is the heritage of all Tongan people.

In November the Australian company Autogen Limited, headed by Melbourne Football Club president Joseph Gutnick, announced it had purchased the exclusive rights to the entire gene pool of Tonga. Autogen said it will use the genetically unique DNA of Tongans in its hunt for drugs to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancers and ulcers. Any DNA samples collected will remain the property of Tonga.

Autogen’s director of research and development, Greg Collier, says, "The Tongan Government will get royalties if anything comes of it, there will be more jobs and the population will get any drugs that come of the research for free."

In 1997 the Micronesian nation of Nauru signed a deal with the Melbourne-based International Diabetes Institute giving them a 50/50 share from any profits resulting from genetic research into its diabetic population. Forty percent of Nauru’s 9,600 inhabitants suffer from diabetes — the second-highest rate in the world after the American Indians at 45 percent. In New Zealand the DNA issue is sharply political. Maori lawyer Moana Jackson has claimed the "arrogance" of genetic scientists threatened Maori survival. "That’s part of the paradigm of colonization," she said. "Because, to tamper with genetics is to tamper with our whakapapa (ancestry), to tamper with the very essence of our soul and our being."

—Michael Field