[2] With 12 years in office, Tenorio was the longest-serving governor in CNMI history.

He worked as a schoolteacher, a shipping executive, and a supervisor for a Naval technical and training unit.

He first served in the House of Representatives of the Congress of Micronesia and subsequently became a member of the Marianas District Legislature.

In 1978, when the Northern Mariana Islands became a U.S. commonwealth (CNMI), he was elected vice president of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate in the first commonwealth legislature and chairman of the Programs Committee.

[3] Tenorio was married to Sophia “Sophie”[4] Pangelinan Tenorio[5] and had nine children, Peter Michael, Ruth Christine, Patrick James, Paul Gilbert, Perry John, Reina Sophia, Roslyn Carlyn, Rebecca Dena, Peter Patrick, and reared son Francisco.