Editorials

Monday, April 29, 1996

State has problems with
funds for OHA

THE state Office of Hawaiian Affairs succeeded last week in drawing hundreds of supporters to a rally at the state Capitol to oppose efforts to reduce its funding by the state. The rally wasn't needed to fend off those efforts in the current session of the Legislature, because the proposals were already pronounced dead.

But as Governor Cayetano observed, the issues won't go away. They will probably be reconsidered next year. The big problem has to do with airport revenues, which comprise a large portion of the $15 million OHA is receiving annually as its share of ceded land revenues.

This appears to violate federal law, which requires that airport revenues be spent only on airport improvements. If the state is found in violation, the entire law stipulating paying of 20 percent of ceded land revenues to OHA could be invalidated. Conceivably the state could be compelled to restore the money paid to OHA to the airport fund.

Another possibility is that the state could be required to make up the OHA payments from the airport fund with money from the general fund, thereby costing the state millions more than it is now providing OHA. A separate issue is whether OHA is entitled to 20 percent of revenue from improved lands, as distinguished from raw land, since OHA did not share in the financing of those improvements.

The problem is made more acute because of the state's fiscal problems, which have forced cuts in a number of programs. There is no money available for increased payments to OHA, and even the current payments are being made at the expense of other programs, some of which also benefit native Hawaiians.

Moreover, despite OHA's success in drawing sympathizers to its rally, poll results show that many Hawaiians have little regard for OHA's performance. OHA has been plagued by controversy since its inception.

These problems can't be solved by holding a rally and opposing any cuts in OHA funding.

Other editorials in brief:

Okinawa landowner

AN Okinawan landowner has won a point in a tussle with the national government. Shoichi Chibana will be allowed to enter his 236-square-meter plot within a U.S. military communications facility.

Despite the emotions stirred up by the rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen on Okinawa, Tokyo and Washington are determined to maintain the island as a military bastion in the interest of maintaining stability in the region. Mr. Chibana has now bowed to that reality.

Prison chain gangs

CHIVALRY is not dead in Alabama. Gov. Fob James fired the state's prison commissioner after he announced plans to put female prisoners on chain gangs. The commissioner, Ron Jones, revived chain gangs for male prisoners last year as part of a program to make prison life more unpleasant.

Equal treatment for the sexes is a fine ideal, but applying it to chain gangs carries the principle too far. Convicts shouldn't lead lives of luxury, but putting them in chains is demeaning. That goes for men as well as women. The governor should abolish the practice altogether.

Marcos damages

IT'S a start, anyway. Victims of human rights abuses during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos have won a $1 million settlement with a former associate of the late Philippine dictator. Former Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco has deposited a check for $1 million with the U.S. District Court in Honolulu for eventual distribution to the victims.

A lawyer for the victims said Tantoco agreed to the settlement in return for the victims giving up their claim on a house in Makiki Heights where the Marcoses lived after fleeing the Philippines in 1986.

The court has awarded $1.9 billion in damages to 10,000 victims of Marcos-era human rights abuses but the Marcos family appealed the verdict. The $1 million, which is part of the award, will be held by the court until the Marcos family's appeal is resolved. That's $1 million down and $1.899 billion to go.

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Rupert E. Phillips,CEO

John M. Flanagan,Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro,Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang,Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner,Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser,Contributing Editor