Draft:Jose S. Dela Cruz

Jose Santos Dela Cruz (born July 18, 1948, at Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) served as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Mariana Islands from 1989 to 1995. Before that, he served as trial judge on the local Superior Court, from 1985 to 1989. He was the first person of Chamorro ancestry to serve on the bench in the Northern Marianas.

Early life and education

Born and raised on Saipan, Dela Cruz attended Mount Carmel Catholic School for grade school and later the Father Duenas Memorial High School on Guam. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Guam in 1971. He subsequently graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1974. The same year, he was admitted to practice law before the High Court of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Career

Dela Cruz first worked for the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation, a poverty law program for Micronesians, from 1974 to 1978, handling civil, probate and land cases for the islanders. In 1977, he served on the Northern Mariana Islands-Board of Elections in 1977 in preparation for the commonwealth’s first general election under its new constitution. From 1978 to 1981, he served as general counsel for the Marianas Public Lands Corporation. From 1981 to 1983, he served as liaison attorney for the Northern Mariana Islands Commission on Federal Laws, whose members included the late Congressman Phillip Burton of San Francisco.

Dela Cruz served as partner on the law firm Borja & Dela Cruz from 1983 to 1985. His law partner was Jesus (“Jesse”) C. Borja, who later joined him on the NMI Supreme Court bench and thereafter became lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”).

Dela Cruz served as a trial judge on the local Superior Court from 1985 to 1989, before becoming chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Mariana Islands from 1989 to 1995. As chief justice, he was instrumental in the organization and establishment of the first appellate court for the Northern Mariana Islands in 1989.

Personal Life

Dela Cruz is married to the former Rita Tenorio Sablan. They have three daughters.

Books

Dela Cruz has published three books. His first book, published in 2010, is about the island’s political history with the United States, particularly the CNMI’s first three decades of local self-government. The title of the book is From Colonialism to Self- Government: The Northern Marianas Experience. His second book—Lorenzo’s Mind—was published in 2017. His third book entitled The Fundamental Issues Affecting the Northern Mariana Islands was published in 2021.