Northern Mariana Islands

Despite a more conciliatory and less confrontational administration in Saipan, relations between the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Washington continued to deteriorate. Third-term governor Pedro P Tenorio ("Teno") inherited a major fiscal quagmire from his predecessor, Froilan C Tenorio ("Lang"), and the Asian financial crisis that started in October 1997 continued to batter the economy. The shrinking tourism sector left the garment industry as almost the sole provider of tax revenues for the government, which also had to face mounting social problems. An estimated two thousand businesses closed down, teachers' contracts were not renewed, and many other public services had to be scaled back. By year's end, there was even serious talk of reducing work hours for government employees. Meanwhile, the legislature passed several measures affecting the presence of guest workers, and a seemingly coordinated campaign to close the garment industry down resulted in a spate of negative media publicity. This resulted in increased pressure for Congress to adopt legislation to federalize immigration and the minimum wage, and even the customs territory of the Commonwealth.