by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Testimony before the United Nations, a public forum and a training seminar - what's next in the quest of Guam's political status? As one of several non-governmental organizations continuing discussion on self-determination, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice president Lisa Natividad says the next step in achieving self-determination is to work collaboratively with the government and community.

She said, "Ultimately what we hope is that at the end of these discussions that we as a community will come to sort of a consensus in terms of the legal strategy of what we're going to pursue in the next steps, and with that will give the commission an idea of what we're pursuing as we further go down the road toward exercising our right to self determination."

Following Thursday's training session on the process of decolonization by international advisor on governance Dr. Carlyle Corbin, she says the most critical lesson was the three different status options that would be on the ballot in terms defined by the UN. "Those three being assimilation into your administering power or some other entity, free association or independence, so he really hit heavily on that in the training yesterday and I think that's ultimately that's where the discussion is now shifting," she said.

She says recent events allowed the group to educate and provide more information to the public that may not necessarily know or be for self-determination. "The reality is that we're an unincorporated territory of the United States and so we are comparable and akin to that of a colony, so I don't think anyone can contend that remaining in this status is good for anybody," she said.

She says this quest has grown to be in the best interest of not only Chamorros, but everyone on Guam. Now that discussion has been made several steps must occur including remaining in contact with the UN and participating in its forums.

Natividad said, "Really the exciting stuff for me is what will happen at the commission level and how we as an island entity decide to operationalize moving through a plebiscite and exercising the actual right."

She says although Dr. Corbin has provided his global knowledge and advice of the process, his homeland of the U.S. Virgin Islands is still in the situation. She says it's that very reason why his presence and consultation is an asset to her group's work. Next week, Corbin along with others will continue discussions regarding self-determination with a forum co-sponsored by the Guam Legislature and the University of Guam.