GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION : SINCE EVER SINCE

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

If you think government corruption is a modern thing, consider that human beings are basically the same today as they were in the past. Self-interest has always been a powerful source of temptation for mankind since the human race began.

In 1929, a woman named Carmen lost her son Jesús while he was working at the kaskåho (coral) pit as an employee of the Naval Government of Guam.

Apparently the accident was work-related, so a government clerk, let's call him Juan, from the Department of Public Works, which employed the dead Jesús, came to Carmen stating that she was entitled to compensation from the Federal Government to the tune of $300.

But, Juan said, Carmen needed to radiogram a claim to the States, which Juan said he was glad to do, but it would cost Carmen $14. Carmen gave Juan the money.

Some time later, Juan came back to Carmen asking this time for $50, a greater sum, claiming that another radiogram was needed to be sent. But Carmen didn't have that kind of money.

Meanwhile, Juan the government clerk notified another woman making the same kind of claim, that she was entitled to government compensation. Juan wrote this lady a note saying :

MAMAILA' HAGÅTÑA LAMO'NA MASEA A LAS SIETTE PAT LAS OCHO GI GIMA' SA' GUAHA MALAGO'-HO PARA HU SANGÅNE HAO YAN SI TAN CARMEN POT ESTE I APAS-MIYO DE KADA MES. SA' MALAGO' YO' NA HU NA' HÅNAO KÅTTA OSINO RADIO NI PAPPET-MIYO NA DOS.

IMPOTTÅNTE - I GIMA'-MÅME LAMO'NA YA HU NANANGGA HAO. TI UN GINASTA DÅNGKULO POT ÅPAS BUS OSINO TOMOBIT PARA KÅTTAN YAN LUCHAN. YANGGEN UN TUNGO' ESTE I PAPPET-MIYO GINEN IYA WASHINGTON. YANGGEN POT SIAKÅSO MA APRUEBA I PAPPET-MIYO ESTE NA KANTIDÅ PARA UN RESIBE $2,379.76

In English :

Come to Hagåtña tonight whether seven o'clock or eight to (my) house because there is something I want to tell you and Tan Carmen about your monthly compensation. Because I want to send a letter or radio (radiogram) about your papers.

Important : Our house tonight and I will be waiting for you. You won't spend much for bus or car fee west or east. If you knew your papers are from Washington. If in case your papers are approved you will receive this amount $2,379.76.

The people Juan sought money from inquired with William G. Johnston, husband of Agueda Johnston, whether Juan actually sent a radiogram. Johnston took the matter to Juan's supervisor at Public Works and the matter was now brought out into the open.

There was just too much evidence against Juan that Juan's plea of innocence was rejected at trial and Juan was sentenced to serve four months in prison and pay fines. The documents do not say if Juan was ever barred from working for the government again.

Government corruption goes all the way back to the Spanish Administration, too. Some Spanish Governors even faced formal accusations against them that were tried in court in Manila.

As Ronald Reagan once said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are : I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

Poor Tan Carmen would agree.

KÅNTAN GUMA'YU'US : O TERESITA

 

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as Saint Therese the Little Flower and also Saint Therese of Lisieux, was only canonized in the year 1925. That's only 101 years ago.

When Mangilao's population grew large enough, a chapel was built where a priest from Hagåtña would say Mass now and then. It was dedicated to the new saint, Saint Therese. Since there is an older Saint Therese (of Avila), the Spaniards distinguished this new Saint Therese from the older one calling the newer one Teresita, meaning "little Teresa or Therese."

We can safely assume that Påle' Román María de Vera was the writer of the Chamorro text for this hymn (although I do not have proof for this assumption). He uses the image of Santa Teresita as a flower of God who sends us flowers (meaning graces) from heaven.

LYRICS

O Teresita, flores Jesus / hågo gi tano' paopao Yu'us

(O Teresita, flower of Jesus / you were on earth the fragrance of God)

guennao gi langet gagågue ham / meggai na flores chuda'e ham.

(there in heaven intercede for us / shower upon us many flowers.)

Flores Jesus, na' florise ham / ni kilu'us ya un nå'e ham.

(Flower of Jesus, make flowers bloom for us at the cross and give them to us.)

O Teresita, patronan Guam / i minames-mo fanu'e ham

(O Teresita, patron of Guam / show us your sweetness)

gi korason-mo sininok hao / as Jesukristo sa' ya-ña hao. (1)

(you burned within your heart / for Jesus Christ because He loved you.)

Ginefli'en Yu'us ni taotao / sumongge hao sa' gos songga hao. (2)

(The love of God for people / enflamed you for you were most ardent.)

I hinengge-mo gos na'manman / i ninangga-mo metton åpmam

(Your faith was most wondrous / your hope was enduringly firm)

lao i guinaiya, lu takhalom / mumåpta' hulo' gi korason.

(but your love, though deep inside, opened upwards in the heart.)

Mañiñila' kalan i atdao / ha sosongge i anten taotao.

(It shone like the sun / and fired up the souls of men.)

I korason-mo gos manñaña' / bula minames kalan nåna

(Your heart was most tender / full of sweetness like a mother's)

i gråsia siha ni i Manå / gi dos kanai-mo man mánkana' (3)

(the graces which were like manna / were hung on your two hands)

håye ya-ña u fåtto gusse' / ya yo'ase' un nånå'e gue'.

(whoever wishes can come quickly / and you would kindly give him.)

I man malångo ma ogagao / nu i hinemlon i tataotao

(The sick searched for health of the body)

i sensen-ñiha yan i ante / fa'maolek, Saina na yo'amte.

(their flesh and soul make well, oh healing Lady.)

Na' huyong hao mames yan geftao / sa' gos låhyan numanangga hao.

(Show yourself to be sweet and generous / for they are many who hope in you.)

NOTES

(1) Sunok is an obsolete word meaning "to burn something."

(2) Songga is another obsolete word meaning "flammable, able to be burned."

(3) Grace is likened to manna, the miraculous food (like wafers) which God sent the hungry Israelites in the desert.

FUNERAL RECEIPT FROM 1930

 

FUNERAL RECEIPT 1930

Once in a blue moon someone needed proof from the village priest that they paid the Church for funeral services, so that they could prove to a judge either that the person is the chief next-of-kin (and can thus be awarded certain rights over the estate) or to be reimbursed.

Juan Pablo was the half-brother of the deceased, Francisco Pablo Torres, and both were the sons of Angela Pablo, who had been married to a Torres and then later to a Castro. The deceased had no children so his half-brother paid for the funeral expenses.

What is of interest here is also the language used. This receipt is written in Chamorro by a Spanish priest, Father Bernabé de Cáseda, a Capuchin. He spent many years as priest in Inalåhan, where a few boys were named Bernabé in his honor. But this receipt was written when Father Bernabé was stationed in Hagåtña.

Here's what he wrote  (I will use my own spelling and make some corrections of his typos) :

Guåho si Fr. Bernabé de Cáseda hu na' magåhet na si Juan Pablo ha apasiye pot i funeråt Francisco Pablo Torres ni måtai a 27 de Disiembre de 1929, ini mo'na na salåppe' :

Pot i entiero primera klåse $21.00

Pot dos responso gi gima' $12.00

Pot i Misa Kantåda $5.00

Totåt $38.00

Which means :

I, Fray (Friar) Bernabé de Cáseda certify that Juan Pablo paid for the funeral of Francisco Pablo Torres who died on December 27, 1929, the following money :

For a funeral first class $21.00

For two prayers for the dead at the home $12.00

For a sung Mass $5.00

Total $38.00

NOTES

Fray. This priest gives himself the abbreviation Fr. which does not stand for "Father" but rather "Friar." Father Bernabé was a Capuchin Franciscan, who are friars, in Spanish "Fray."

Hu na' magåhet. Literally means "I make true," meaning that he certifies, or he assures the truthfulness of. He could've just as easily said "Hu settifika" for "I certify" but he uses indigenous terms instead.

Apasiye. It is misspelled "apasise" in the document. It means "to pay for."

Måtai a. This is a mix of Chamorro (måtai, died) and Spanish (a, at). Meaning on December 27. Strictly Chamorro would have been "måtai gi."

First Class Funeral. In those days, funerals came in first class or not first class, which meant less services or less ceremonial additions.

Responso. This was a prayer said for the dead, usually said in the home but sometimes at church or at the cemetery.

Sung Mass. In those days, Mass could be recited, without singing, or Mass could be sung, meaning the priest chanted a lot of the Mass. A larger fee was paid for the priest's extra effort at a Sung Mass.

In today's value, $38 back then is now worth $738.00.

FATHER BERNABÉ DE CÁSEDA

ONE BAD THING ABOUT THE PÅPA' SÅTGE

 

Felipe was arrested in 1930 by an American Marine patrol man in the San Ramón district of Hagåtña. This area is behind the Cathedral, all the way to the bottom of San Ramón Hill, mainly taken up by the Courthouses today.

What was Felipe's crime?

Peeping through the cracks of the floor board of the house of a man named Vicente and his wife while the couple were in the house.

Felipe was hiding in the påpa' såtge, the open area under a house raised on stilts or columns.

The patrolman caught Felipe and called him out, and Felipe ran, but then stopped running.

Appearing before the judge, Felipe said he was in the påpa' såtge to answer the call of nature, and when he realized a patrolman was chasing him, stopped running.

The patrolman's version of the story was that he noticed the legs of someone under the påpa' såtge, so the patrolman crouched down to inspect who it was and aimed his flashlight at Felipe. Felipe ran and only stopped because the patrolman shot his pistol once in the air.

Due to Felipe's admissions, despite his own reasons for doing what he did, he was found guilty of prowling and resisting arrest.

Raising houses above ground kept the house cooler, kept flood waters and critters out and created storage space underneath.

But, if one was not careful, a raised floor meant people could take advantage of peering through the cracks between the planks or floor boards.

THE PÅPA SÅTGE'

is the open area created under a house on pillars

HE SAID, SHE SAID

 

There are many stories of pregnancies outside of marriage in olden Guam, but this court case from 1929 is interesting to me because it involved a Catholic man and a Baptist woman.

I usually don't include the last names of people in embarrassing stories, in order to spare their descendants (some are old enough to have known the individuals involved) further embarrassment. With this story, even their first names are so uncommon that they could be identified, so I'll change their first names, too.

Let's call her Rosa. Rosa went to court in 1929 to lodge a complaint against Juan for making her pregnant. Both Juan and Rosa were single. Rosa was Baptist, and Juan was Catholic. Rosa claimed that she consented to have intimate relations with Juan four times, on the sole basis that Juan promised to marry Rosa very soon.

Rosa became pregnant, and Juan dragged his feet about marrying Rosa. 

Soon, Rosa's pregnancy couldn't be hidden. Rosa's female cousins at school told their mom, Rosa's auntie. The auntie told Rosa's mother. Rosa admitted to her mother that she was pregnant and that Juan was the father. Rosa's mom called Juan's mom.

Juan's mother agreed that Juan should marry Rosa, and asked Rosa's mother if she, Rosa's mother, a staunch Baptist, would agree to have Juan and Rosa marry before a Catholic priest.

Rosa's mother, the staunch Baptist, said "yes." Getting Rosa married and sparing everyone the shame was more important than where the marriage took place.

But Juan never went through with the wedding. And that is why Rosa went to court.

Juan was charged with seduction on the pretense of marriage, and Juan plead not guilty.

Rosa's problem in this court case was a lack of witnesses who could say they saw Juan and Rosa in carnal relations. Juan denied having ever touched Rosa.

Furthermore, witnesses were called in to testify that Rosa had had prior boyfriends, including a Filipino working for the Navy who seemed to be in high demand among the single ladies of Guam, since female rivals for this Filipino man's attention had quarrels with Rosa over him.

Rosa, according to some witnesses, was known for being a flirt with some of the young men, Baptist and Catholic. All of this was to insinuate that there could be more than one candidate for who impregnated Rosa.

In the end, the court acquitted Juan. There just wasn't enough evidence to convict him.

It was a matter of "he said, she said." There were no paternity tests, yet, to scientifically prove who the father was.

To this day, however, the family that Rosa eventually raised with a husband consider Rosa's first born the child of Juan, even though the child never took Juan's last name.

CHILD CRIMINALS

 

Juan was just 12 and Francisco was just 11, but they may have been the youngest individuals ever arrested in Guam history, at least before the war.

Court documents describe the two partners in crime as "incorrigible" and totally beyond the control of their parents.

In 1929, at around 10 in the morning, apparently when no one was home, Juan and Francisco broke into the house of a Navy Lieutenant working for the Naval Hospital in Hagåtña. Having free rein of the house, they helped themselves to the following list of items :

The two boys were caught and all the items, save one, were retrieved.

But, even as young as they were, the two boys were arrested and had to face the judge in court!

They plead guilty and were sentenced to two months' jail time plus court expenses, paid for, I'm sure, by the parents.

This was not the only time the criminal boys stole private property. They also stole a tricycle and a "kiddie car" from the front porch of Thomas Edward Mayhew, an American married to Emilia Duarte, born in Guam of a Spanish father and a mixed Chamorro mother.

FAMILIA : CHARFAUROS

 

According to the records left by the Freycinet Expedition, a visit to Guam (1817) by French scholars and scientists, FAULOS means "navigator." The word has since been lost in modern Chamorro speech; even my grandmother born in 1899 didn't know the meaning.

The Spaniards often switched between R and L when writing Chamorro words. Think, for example of Merizo which is really Malesso' or Inarajan which is really Inalåhan.

So FAULOS was often written FAUROS by the Spaniards.

CHAR is really CHAT, a prefix which means "imperfect" or "defective." 

So CHARFAUROS means CHAT+FAULOS, a defective, imperfect, perhaps bad navigator.

Many of our ancient Chamorro names are negative. Taitano, landless. Taimanglo, windless. Naputi, hurtful. We don't know for sure why this was so.

CHARFAUROS is a very old surname. It goes so far back and records don't always connect family members or relatives that we can't see how they are all related.

But the name was basically found in HÅGAT. Thanks to Spanish records from the 1800s that still survived, we can break down the CHARFAUROS families into the following ancestral groups. I will focus on the male descendants who produced heirs. Women who married and others who remained single, without children, I will not include since neither of them continue the family line.

If you are a Charfauros trying to do your family tree, as you work back you will eventually get to one of these older generations named here.

RAFAEL CHARFAUROS and FRANCISCA SAN NICOLAS

One of the larger clans of the Charfauros family was founded by Rafael and Francisca. Their son Anastasio SN Charfauros, better known as Tasio, had many descendants.

Anastasio married Antonia Sablan Alvarez, the daughter of Sabas and Angela (or Ana). They had many children but the sons with the most heirs were Luís Alvarez Charfauros who married Rosa Quintanilla Chaco, the daughter of José and Maria; and Ramon Alvarez Charfauros, who married Marcela Salas Cruz, the daughter of José and Joaquina.

JUAN CHARFAUROS and MANUELA CRUZ

Their son FULGENCIO CRUZ CHARFAUROS (born around 1844) married Justa de León Arceo, the daughter of Mariano and Francisca. They had many children but particularly VICENTE ARCEO CHARFAUROS, who married Rosa Aguigui Lizama (daughter of José and Marina) and MARIANO ARCEO CHARFAUROS, who married María San Nicolas San Nicolas (daughter of Juan and Fernanda) had children.

FORMER SENATOR EDWARD TORRES CHARFAUROS

was the grandson of Mariano Arceo Charfauros and great grandson of Fulgencio Cruz Charfauros

Another son JOSÉ CRUZ CHARFAUROS married Margarita Tenorio Laguaña, the daughter of Baldovino and Maria. They moved to Malesso', so the Charfauros family in Malesso' today are their descendants.

Another son MANUEL CRUZ CHARFAUROS married María Tenorio Laguaña, daughter of Baldovino and María. So, as did happen in the old days, two brothers married two sisters. 

CHAMORRO MUSIC LEGEND JESUS CRUZ CHARFAUROS (JESUS CHAMORRO)

was the son of Faustino Laguaña Charfauros and great grandson of Manuel Cruz Charfauros.

JOSÉ CHARFAUROS and JUANA CRUZ

Their son José Cruz Charfauros married Consolación Blanco Babauta, daughter of Antonio and Rosa. Another son Félix Cruz Charfauros married Antonia Blanco Babautam daughter of Antonio and Rosa. Again, two brothers married two sisters.

JOSÉ CHARFAUROS and MAGDALENA LAGUAÑA

These two had a son named Mariano Laguaña Charfauros who married Guadalupe Salas Nededog, the daughter of José and Vicenta.

JUAN CHARFAUROS and ENCARNACIÓN QUINTANILLA

These two had few children, who seem to have all been daughters.

MARIANO CHARFAUROS and INOCENCIA CRUZ

These two had a son Agustín Cruz Charfauros who married Maria Carbullido Santos, the daughter of Juan and Maria, and had children.

FAUSTINO CHARFAUROS and SERAFINA AGUIGUI

Their son José Aguigui Charfauros married Juana Diaz Cruz, the daughter of Manuel and Juliana. They had several children.

OUTSIDE HÅGAT

There was one branch of the Charfauros family that moved out of Hågat. They seem to have been better educated people who went to other places as school teachers.

They were the children of DIONISIO CHARFAUROS and DOLORES DÍAZ.

Their son Vicente Díaz Charfauros married Rita Dueñas Muña, the daughter of Vicente and Cornelia, and moved to Luta (Rota) where he was a school teacher. The Charfauros from Luta are their descendants.

Their other son José Díaz Charfauros, who married María Manajane Taitano, the daughter of Lucas and Nicolasa, moved to Humåtak as school teacher and their Charfauros descendants are there.

One last Charfauros, named BALDOVINO DÍAZ CHARFAUROS, married María Guatafe and moved to Hagåtña.

CHAMORRO POSTCARDS FROM 1900

 

Attorney Michael White from Saipan sent me pics of two postcards written in Chamorro from the Northern Marianas during the German Administration in 1900.

The first one, seen above, was addressed to Froilán Mangloña in Luta. I will render it in my Chamorro orthography but you can easily follow it by reading the original :

Gi echongñan i plåsa gi me'nan i gima' u fan ma tånme flores yan man dikkiki' na trongkon håyo siha yan un gua'ot ni dångkulo para kumahulo' guato i gima'.

In English, "By the side of the square in front of the house flowers and small trees will be planted and a large staircase to go up to the house."

I like this postcard because it uses the word ECHONGÑA which is now obsolete; no one uses this word anymore which is why even good Chamorro speakers have no idea why we sing in the hymn "O Maria Nana'magof" the words TUNANAS GI ECHONGÑÅ-MO. People think it means "crooked mosquito," "echong ñåmu." But ECHONGÑA means "side."

The second postcard was addressed to Luís Igualeman which is really EGAULIMAN, a Carolinian in Saipan. It says,

I gima' gaige gi hilo' okso', gai padet kuåttro yan meggai haligi-ña lao trabia ti monhåhåyan.

In English, "The house is on top of a hill, it has four concrete (perhaps walls) and it has many posts, but it is not finished yet."

WHAT THE AMERICANS DENIED, THE JAPANESE ALLOWED

 

CATHOLIC SISTERS IN PREWAR SAIPAN

but no Catholic Sisters were allowed on Guam

Every Catholic mission throughout the world wanted religious Sisters.

Sure, the priests were the most crucial. The priest said the Masses, baptized, preached and so on. But the work of the Church involved more than that. 

The religious Brothers did a lot of the manual work. They were the carpenters, brick-layers, cooks, tailors and sacristans for the priests. Many a priest said Mass in a chapel built by a Brother.

But the religious Sisters were also very important, especially with the children. Children, both boys and girls, are nurtured best by mothers and the Sisters were the mothers. If Sisters were working in a mission, the children were well-grounded in the faith. Besides the children, the Sisters worked with the mothers and single women of the community, teaching them domestic and academic skills besides religious subjects. The Sisters formed choirs and taught the women to sew, many times for the needs of the church.

So in both American Guam and in Japanese Saipan, the Spanish priests looked for Sisters.

The difference was that the American Navy on Guam blocked the arrival of Catholic Sisters, but the Japanese Government in Saipan, who weren't even Christian, gave Catholic Sisters a warm welcome.

IN BOTH CASES, SPANISH MISSIONARIES WERE POLITICALLY NEUTRAL

In the 1920s, when the Spanish Jesuits in Saipan looked for Sisters and the Spanish Capuchins in Guam did the same, Spanish Sisters was the original thought.

Spain by that time was no longer a world power, having been defeated by the US in 1898 and having lost almost all of its Latin American territories even before that. Therefore, in the 1920s, neither the Japanese nor the Americans had a reason to fear Spanish missionaries working in the Marianas, who might represent a foreign power at odds with Japan or the US. 

Besides not being a political threat to the colonial governments, Spanish Sisters could work well with Spanish priests and brothers.

And so the Japanese welcomed the Spanish Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz into Saipan in 1928. These were Sisters straight from Spain. The Japanese saw the Sisters as a good influence on the people of Saipan. The Sisters wouldn't compete with the Japanese public schools for the Chamorros and Carolinians either, not that the Japanese sought to give the islanders a complete education anyway. Schools for the island children went up only to a certain point. Only the more promising native students were given more educational opportunities, with the main idea being that they would become good Japanese.

A MERCEDARIAN CONDUCTING CHOIR PRACTICE IN SAIPAN

ON GUAM, THE ISSUE WAS DIFFERENT

On American Guam, however, the idea of bringing in Catholic Sisters was totally opposed by the US Navy.

The main reason for this was that, on Guam, Catholic schools were hoped to be opened, and those Catholic schools would compete with the government's public schools. Being strongly Catholic, many parents, especially the higher status ones, would favor sending their children to a Catholic school more than to a government one. The Navy wanted to Americanize the younger Chamorros already by the 1920s, and the Navy thought that Catholic Sisters, especially non-American ones, would slow down the Americanization process. The Navy already felt that was true with the Spanish priests, and had them slowly replaced with American priests in the late 1930s.

Ironically, the Navy also feared that Catholic Sisters would be a financial drain on the people of Guam since the people would have to financially support the Sisters. But if the Sisters could be allowed to charge tuition at their schools, there would have been less need to rely on the charity of the people.

AN INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF SISTERS

THE FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES OF MARY

The Spanish Capuchins on Guam, sensing that the US Navy feared even more Spanish missionaries on Guam, turned to a group of Sisters who were international in nature, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM). Founded in India by a French Sister, the FMM Sisters had spread to various countries of the world by the 1920s. They were in the Philippines at the time the Spanish Capuchins on Guam were looking for Sisters.

A handful of Sisters of different nationalities, but all speaking English to some degree, were selected for Guam. But the US Navy put up a roadblock. No Sister would be allowed passage to Guam without first passing an English test. Then, when the Sisters passed the test, a new qualification was added. The Sisters must not only speak English well, but also speak it without an accent.

What accent? Did it have to be an American accent? And if so, which American accent?

So an Australian or Irish Sister, whose mother tongue was English, would fail. But what about a Bostonian accent? Or did it have to be a Wisconsin one?

The requirement was a pretext for turning down all the Sisters from sailing for Guam. A Navy examiner in Manila tested the Sisters for accents and they all failed.

It was the one major defect of the Guam Catholic Mission, so said some Spanish missionaries. The Church on Guam had no religious schools and so Sisters.

So the Americans, who are Christian of one sort or another, denied Guam Catholic Sisters, but the non-Christian Japanese allowed them in Saipan. When Japan knew it would enter into war with the US in the 1940s, the Japanese then began to restrict the activities of the Spanish Sisters in Saipan.

PREGNANT YET KILLED

 

ROSALÍA'S GRAVE

with sister Carmen

Pedro Guevara Dumanal, better-known-as Pedro'n Tagålo, was a wanted man by the Japanese in 1943.

Dumanal had always been on the list of people to watch out for by the Japanese. Being an ex-US Navy man, he was considered pro-American and dangerous. He was rumored to have a large cache of weapons hidden somewhere, and to have spoken to some Chamorro men to organize some resistance to the Japanese.

So Dumanal went into hiding.

So the Japanese questioned a lot of people whether they had seen Dumanal or not.

One of them was Dumanal's wife, Rosalía Reyes Quintanilla Dumanal. Not only was she questioned; she and a daughter were taken to the Sumay Cemetery and tortured.

According to the lore told by older people in Santa Rita, Rosalía was pregnant at the time. She had just given birth in 1942 to her youngest born, a daughter named Enriqueta.

She was asked by the Japanese, "Where is your husband?"

"I don't know," she repeatedly replied.

But Rosalía was pregnant, and probably showed.

"How can that be when you are pregnant? You must know where he is!" the Japanese said. 

And so Rosalía was beheaded. It was April 25, 1944.

The sad fact was that Pedro, her husband, was already dead and the Japanese knew it.  On February 23, two months before, Pedro had met up with a Saipanese interpreter on the road, and was killed by the interpreter, who claimed self-defense. Why then were the Japanese asking information on a man they knew was already dead?

Now both mother and father were dead. Their two oldest daughters got married soon after the war and became guardians of the younger children, Enriqueta being the youngest born. But a sibling died along with Rosalía in her womb.

Rosalía was the daughter of Vicente Cruz Quintanilla (familian Orong) and Gertrudes Taitano Reyes.

Rest in peace. U såga gi minahgong.

FAMILIA : TAISIPIC

 

From some French scientists and scholars we do know the meaning of this truly, indigenous surname.

The Freycinet Expedition (1817) was a visit to the Marianas by those French investigators, who left us many reports about just about everything concerning our islands, including some notes about language.

They tell us that SIPIK meant fisherman. Taisipik would therefore mean "without a fisherman." Perhaps that meant the person lacked a fisherman in the family. Other people had the surname Gofsipik, meaning "good fisherman," and others Sipikña, meaning "his or her fisherman," or "a better fisherman" than others.

Father Callistus Lopinot, a German missionary in Saipan became a student of Chamorro and visited Luta, as well, says that, in Luta, to fish is sumibek (sumipik).

The Taisipics seem to have roots in the old village of Pågo, and when that village was closed due to the smallpox epidemic in 1856 which killed off a large part of the small community, the survivors moved to other villages, and the Taisipics seem to have moved to Yoña where they were documented in the 1920s.

AN OLD NAME

Being indigenous, it's no surprise that TAISIPIC is a name found in old Spanish records.

There was a Manuel Taisipic who is listed as a pig pen worker for the government farm in 1796.

Taisipics were found living in different villages in the 1700s; in Hågat, Malesso', Inalåhan, Sinajaña and Hagåtña.

Since the old records also show that a number of Taisipics were intermarried with well-known families from the now extinct village of Pågo, such as the Taitingfong and Quichocho families, I think there's a good chance that the Taisipics, at least some of them, were from Pågo. Another indication this might be true is that, when the Spaniards closed down the village of Pågo when the village died out from the smallpox epidemic in 1856, many of the Pågo people moved to Yoña, and the Taisipics eventually were found in Yoña, although there are in Hagåtña in the late 1800s, too. Some Pågo families moved to Hagåtña, then to Yoña later on, where their farms were.

TAISIPIC - QUICHOCHO

It seems all the Taisipics of Guam are descendants of JOSÉ TAISIPIC and SUSANA QUICHOCHO. Susana is still alive in the 1897 Guam Census.

BALBINO (or BALVINO) QUICHOCHO TAISIPIC was their son, and Balbino married Carmen Mafnas.

Their son GREGORIO MAFNAS TAISIPIC married Ana Campos Taitingfong. This couple had numerous children. A great number of Taisipics on Guam are the descendants of GREGORIO and ANA.

Balbino had a sister MARIA, who had a daughter ANA (or JUANA) TAISIPIC out of wedlock. Ana married Juan Quidachay. Maria then married José Pangelinan Siguenza.

Balbino had a brother Juan, who had mental issues and caused some problems in the community as reported in court documents.

The government records speak of a Jose Quichocho Taisipic, born in 1874, so probably another brother of Balbino's, but he seems to disappear from sight and no family, it seems, comes from him on Guam.

Most of the Taisipics today, therefore, are the descendants of GREGORIO MAFNAS TAISIPIC and ANA CAMPOS TAITINGFONG.

SINANGAN MAN ÅMKO'

 

TI SIÑA UN FOKSE HÅGA' GINEN I KAMUTE

You cannot squeeze blood out of a sweet potato.

This is a Chamorro variation of "you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip," or "you can't squeeze water out of a stone," and many more.

It's the same idea.

You can't get from someone what that person doesn't have to give.

KONSUEGRA

 

Thanks to the Spanish language, Chamorro has a word found in very few languages around the world.

That word is CO-MOTHER-IN-LAW. In Spanish, consuegra, or in Chamorro konsuegra.

These two women, both named Terry, have children married to each other. To each other, these two ladies are KONSUEGRA. Their husbands would be konsuegro to each other. All thanks to the Spanish language, of course. But not even Italian or French has a word like this.

Suegra is the Spanish word for mother-in-law. Putting the prefix con before it means "mothers-in-law-together."

A STRANGE, BUT GOOD, SPANISH GOVERNOR

 

A delightful anecdote about one of the Spanish Governors of the Marianas comes to us from reports from the Freycinet Expedition (1817-1820), a visit to the Marianas of French scientists and scholars.

Felipe de Cerain was Governor of the Marianas for an unusually long time - ten years - from 1776 until 1786. Most Governors served fewer years, sometimes two or three.

Cerain was considered a good man; humane and generous.

But he was bizarre in his habits, perhaps a wild man. He moved according to his whims; nothing went according to routine or schedule. He ate when he felt like it, regardless of the hour of day or night. Because the cook often had no advance warning, Cerain in his impatience would go into the kitchen and eat right out of the pot; sometimes food so hot as to burn the mouth, or food that was still not cooked completely.

It was under Cerain that Atantåno' was developed. Between the years 1784 and 1785, under orders by Cerain, a difficult road was laid linking Piti and Hågat. In the Atantåno' area, Cerain had planted coconut groves for the people's use, and was credited with many other good works.

The Santa Cruz monument at Atantåno' commemorates Cerain's projects in that location.

The upper monument speaks of Governor Cerain and his works.

EPIDEMIC OF 1700

 

We who lived through the Covid pandemic weren't the first, and probably won't be the last, people of the Marianas to go through such an ordeal.

When the Europeans came to our islands, they brought with them diseases for which our ancestors had no immunity. The saying, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," rings true in this case. Exposure to viruses either kills you or strengthens your immunity against them. Being so isolated for thousands of years, our ancestors had no exposure to foreign viruses, and when they were exposed, our people died by the hundreds.

In 1700 a virus of some sort, some suspect influenza or chicken pox, reduced our islands' populations. Others think it was smallpox.

It was described by local missionaries as a catarrh, meaning an inflammation of the mucus membranes, blocking the air passages of the nose and throat and the interior sinuses of the head. Other symptoms were bloody stool, high fevers, body aches and, according to one Jesuit, jaundice.

Since the missionaries were in daily contact with the boys living in their school, the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, the names of some of the boys who died are mentioned.

Diego Hangi was a boy of 12. Unless there was a word hangi in the past, this could be hangai, which means to go somewhere with a set purpose.

Diego Ramen. Possibly låmen. The Spaniards often wrote R for L, as in Merizo instead of Malesso'. Låmen is a Chamorro word with more than one meaning; to harm, but also in prior times a need or to esteem. It's interesting that two boys named Diego are mentioned. Perhaps Diego was a more common name in the Marianas in 1700 in honor of Diego Luís de Sanvitores.

Lucas Emengro was a boy from Luta. He was unable to receive Viaticum, which is the last Holy Communion of the dying. When at last his vomiting subsided, he received Viaticum and died much consoled having received the Body of the Lord. His last name could have been emanglo', which can mean either to look for wind or to lack wind. The Spaniards often wrote E instead of A (for example Magofña was also spelled Megofña). And then we have the R / L issue again.

Francisco Javier Piritu suffered bad health even before the epidemic. He had so many ulcers all over his body that 60 were counted at one time. A very spiritual boy, he endured all these pains with great patience till death erased all suffering. Here again it is possible his name was pilitu (the R / L issue) but we don't know what pilitu could have meant.

Some of the Chamorros mentioned were not named.

There was a man from Saipan who suffered much with great patience, not uttering one word of complaint. He had made his confession and received the Last Rites, but the priest did not give him Viaticum (holy communion for the dying) because the man appeared to the priest to be somewhat rough. But the sick man called for the priest in the middle of the night and, as the priest neared the house, he could hear the man pray with such devotion that the priest was convinced that the man had real faith and gave him Viaticum.

On Easter Sunday in Malesso', at the priest's orders that all the sick be brought to Mass, the priest was overwhelmed to see the church filled with people, including the sick brought on hammocks or transported in boats. Not a single person in Malesso' missed Mass that day. Still I wonder if it was a wise idea to bring everyone, sick and not sick, together in one place. I suppose it didn't matter; the healthy would still be exposed to the sick in their own homes.

As a kind of a doctor, the Jesuit missionaries usually had a Jesuit brother (not a priest) assigned to Guam who knew something of medicines and basic medical treatment. In 1700, it was Brother Jaime Chávarri, who tended to the sick with whatever medicines he had.

The number of actual victims of this epidemic is unknown. An early report said there were "many" deaths, but a later report says not many died. Perhaps this was the missionary's way of covering up the decrease in population. If islands have fewer people, they then need less personnel. So there would be an interest in keeping the numbers higher.

What we can say is that by 1710 the population was just a little over 3000 people, whereas at the time of Sanvitores' arrival, the population could have been as high as 50,000 if not higher. A prior epidemic in 1688 also killed hundreds.