Former museum board chair raises concerns over HPO transfer

Former NMI Museum Board of Governors chair Leo Pangelinan urged lawmakers to carefully examine a proposed government reorganization that would place the museum under the Historic Preservation Office, raising concerns about its independence, governance, funding, and stewardship of cultural artifacts.

Pangelinan made the comments during the public comment portion of the House of Representatives session last Sept. 18 as lawmakers reviewed Gov. David M. Apatang’s Executive Order 2026-015. He said he had previously submitted a statement outlining his concerns to the Senate president and House speaker on Aug. 31.

Pangelinan, a former member and chair of the museum’s Board of Governors, acknowledged the Commonwealth’s difficult fiscal situation and the need to find efficiencies, but said his concern went beyond where the museum would be placed within the government.

“My concern is not simply where the museum sits on an organizational chart. It is whether in solving an immediate financial problem, we unintentionally weaken an institution entrusted with responsibilities that extend far beyond any administration or fiscal year,” Pangelinan said.

He said the museum is the Commonwealth’s official repository for historical and cultural artifacts and that its collections are held in trust for the people of the Northern Mariana Islands and future generations.

Pangelinan said he was particularly concerned about eliminating the museum’s independent Board of Governors and transferring its policymaking authority to a single government official or designee.

“A governing board provides continuity, community representation, professional oversight, and an important measure of independence in decisions concerning collections, interpretation, access, preservation, and institutional priorities,” he said.

Pangelinan said historic preservation and museum stewardship are complementary but different functions, noting that museum operations include collections management, conservation, research, exhibitions, education, interpretation, and public access.

He also raised financial concerns, saying the museum needs to cultivate support from local businesses, federal programs, foundations, and private donors. He asked lawmakers to consider whether changing its legal and administrative structure could affect funding eligibility or make prospective donors less willing to contribute.

Pangelinan also pointed to a potential conflict, or appearance of a conflict, because HPO exercises regulatory authority over development affecting historic and cultural properties while some of the same businesses subject to HPO review could be asked to support the museum. He said clear safeguards would be needed.

He asked lawmakers to preserve, at minimum, an independent advisory governing body for the museum; protect its collections, records, funding, and mission; establish professional standards for collections care and access; and require a transparent transition plan identifying who would be accountable for those responsibilities.

Pangelinan said the issue is particularly important because the NMI Museum and Bishop Museum in Hawaii have signed an agreement providing for the return of thousands of ancestral artifacts to the Marianas. He said the transfer has not yet been completed and remains an ongoing coordination effort between the two institutions.

“Whatever administrative structure ultimately emerges, please ensure that the NMI Museum remains more than a government program,” Pangelinan said. “It should remain a public trust, professionally managed, publicly accountable, and permanently dedicated to preserving the history and cultural inheritance of the people of our islands.”