Responding to an invitation from the U.S. Interior Department, Gov. John deJongh Jr. hit the shores of Guam this week for various speaking engagements, which, among other things, highlighted the shared struggles of the territories and V.I. efforts to considerably reduce energy consumption over the next few years.
DeJongh was a featured speaker at a Guam Energy Task Force meeting, was interviewed Wednesday on Guam Radio’s "Ray Gibson Breakfast Show," and on Thursday hit the University of Guam’s Center for Island Stability as a guest speaker at the President’s Lecture Series, according to a Government House release.
The Wednesday radio show touched on a number of issues, including economic and financial challenges, tourism, island sustainability and energy efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, among other things. And, in his presentation to the university, deJongh further focused on challenges and success shared between the two territories, and said that stronger ties between the two territorial governments "are essential to remedying historical inequities and ushering in future prosperity," the release said.
"Together our voices are stronger and more powerful than when we speak alone,” he told Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo, Assistant Interior Secretary for Insular Affairs Anthony Babauta, and many other dignitaries present for the speech.
DeJongh also spoke about the "uncertainty" of the territories’ legal status, and high court rulings that denied unincorporated territories, such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, certain rights afforded to citizens in the states. Referred to as the Insular Cases, the U.S. Supreme Court rulings ultimately became "the unfortunate legal rationale for the discriminatory treatment we have suffered from ever since," deJongh said in his speech.
“We must also vigorously confront, and fight, discrimination and unequal treatment by the federal government whenever and wherever found," he added.
Continued collaboration between the territory and Guam, will help to "chip away" at the inequalities in federal laws and programs, the governor said, adding that the territories have received support from new leadership in Interior, along with U.S. President Barack Obama.
DeJongh’s speech also focused on energy alliance and environmental protection efforts, and called upon the territories’ leaders to continue to "march on the path to greater political economic development and sustainability."
