Lt. Governor of Guam 1987-1995. Frank Flores Blas, Sr. (1941-2016) was a Chamorro politician, businessman and member of the Republican Party of Guam. Blas served as the Lieutenant Governor of Guam from 1987 until 1995 for two consecutive terms under Governor Joseph F. Ada.
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First Chamorro Woman to Preside over Association of Pacific Island Legislatures. Herminia Duenas Dierking (1939 – 2008) was a senator in the Guam Legislature, a professor at the University of Guam, and a cabinet officer in the Government of Guam. As a senator she became the first woman to serve as president of the regional organization, Association of Pacific Island Legislatures.
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Lourdes Aflague “Lou” Leon Guerrero, (1950 – ) was elected as the first woman governor of Guam in November 2018. Joshua Tenorio was elected to serve as the Lieutenant Governor. They were sworn into office 7 January 2019. Leon Guerrero is the first Pacific Islander woman to serve as governor of a US territory or state.
Governor Lourdes A. “Lou” Leon Guerrero Read Post »
Long time senator. Vicente (ben) Cabrera Pangelinan (1955-2014), known as “Senator ben,” was a fighter and champion for many causes that affected the people of Guam. Pangelinan was born in Saipan to Luisa Cabrera Pangelinan and Francisco Sablan Pangelinan on 22 October 1955 and moved to Guam with his family at the age of seven. He had two sisters, Maria and Jesusa, and one brother, Antonio.
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Self-Determination: A promise for true democracy. To understand what the process of self-determination means for many Chamorus on Guam, one must have some knowledge of the island’s long colonial history.
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Significant developments relative to the return of lands to the people of Guam have occurred since the original publication of this article in 1996. For instance, the Chamorro Land Trust Act (21 GCA §§ 75101-75117) or the statute enacted in 1975 to provide for the disposition of public lands in a manner that facilitated the social, cultural, and economic well-being of the Chamorro people, has been implemented, albeit on an incremental basis.
Update: Land Ownership in Guam Read Post »
Granted Congressional US citizenship to the people of Guam. The Organic Act of Guam is federal legislation passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by US President Harry S. Truman on 1 August 1950. In general, the act established a non-military, civil government on Guam; granted congressional US citizenship to residents of the island at the time and their descendants; and solidified the island’s political status as an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly a Spanish colony, Guam was ceded to the US in 1898.
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Tinituhun. On 21 July 1991 at Latte Stone Memorial Park in Hagåtña, a small group of Chamorro men and women gathered to form a new organization. This organization would be comprised of a number of different grassroots and family-based groups, who were all connected through a commitment to the Chamorro people and to the protection of their lands, their culture and their rights.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Government of Guam created the Commission on Self-Determination (CSD) to continue the quest for a change in Guam’s political status as an unincorporated territory of the United States. There were two commissions mandated by law: the first was organized in 1980, and the second in 1984.
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In 2006, the United States and Japan signed an agreement known as the Roadmap for Realignment Implementation. This bilateral agreement initially involved the realignment of some 8,600 marines from bases in Okinawa, Japan to the US territory of Guam in what would be the largest military buildup in the region since World War II. In addition to the relocation of marines, land would be needed to accommodate live round weapons training, as well as housing for military personnel, families and laborers.
