By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

Labor hearing officer Jacinta M. Kaipat says the commonwealth needs more women serving the community particularly in these “difficult times.”
Kaipat is one of the Covenant Party’s Precinct 1 candidates for the House of Representatives.
Scheduled to take a leave from her job next month, Kaipat said she feels it’s time to provide more service to the community.
“I want to help the community in these difficult times,” said Kaipat. “We need more women to serve the community and bring in fresh perspectives in solving long-term social problems.”
Kaipat is originally from Pagan, one of the Northern Islands.
Along with her siblings, Kaipat was forced to settle on Saipan in the 1970s after her father was assassinated. Her father was then the district representative and leader of the Northern Islands community.
Kaipat said that personal tragedy fueled her desire to fight for the rights of local people.
With the death of her father, Kaipat’s family struggled financially but a Peace Corps volunteer couple who taught on Pagan later found her a job in Chicago.
She lived in the United States for 19 years and earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota through a merit scholarship.
As president of the United Northern Mariana Islanders Association, Kaipat pushed hard to have the original residents of Pagan resettled on their ancestral land which they had to leave when its volcano erupted in 1981.
But their efforts were not supported by the CNMI government.
Last year, Kaipat led the campaign to preserve their ancestral land from potential investors seeking to mine pozzolan, a rare volcanic ash used as an ingredient in cement-making.
Kaipat said it’s time to have a more competent leadership in the CNMI.
“Ours is a diverse and wonderful community. Our islands are the most beautiful in the world; the people who inhabit them are hardworking, caring and generous. Some were born here, some have migrated but all have a stake and all have a right to ethical and competent leadership,” Kaipat said.
“Beset with economic, social and environmental woes, the CNMI is a community in crisis and it’s time to get tough. It’s time to take back our government from ethically challenged leaders who have promoted the interest of a few at the expense of the rest…it’s time to create new, better and stronger laws that will benefit the CNMI and protect its economic and environmental future — not exploit it,” she added.