ÅHE' TI MA DEPOTTA

Chamorro politics used to be much more personal than now.

It was standard practice for politicians to devote most of their speaking time to attacking candidates of the opposite party, including remarks about the opponent's personal life, spouse and children.

In 1959, a politician in Saipan felt it necessary to publicly refute the following accusations made by others about him :


Pot otro kosa, mina' presisamente malago' yo' na hu deklåra gi me'nan i pupbliko
(On another thing, I want to specifically declare before the public)

i ma supopone na ma depotta yo' tåtte Saipan,
(who believe that I was deported back to Saipan,)

pat i ma dulalak yo' gi U.S. Army.
(or that I was evicted from the U.S. Army.)

Este siha na sospecho man sen ti magåhet ya peligroso para guåho
(These suspicions are altogether untrue and dangerous to me)

ni en ayek para representånten-miyo gi minaulek yan i probechon i linahyan.
(whom you chose as your representative for the good and benefit of the community.)

Pot ennao mina' para infotmasion kuåtkiet petsona, guåho ti ma depotta
(For that reason, for the information of whatever person, I was not deported)

yan ti ma dulalak yo' gi Army.
(nor was I dismissed from the Army.)

Ni tampoko sikiera diddide' na minancha na'ån-ho guine gi uttimo na biahi-ho.
(Nor even the least stain on my name in this my last voyage.)

Guåho ayo i biktiman i sitkunstånsias.
(I am a victim of circumstances.)

Bumåsta yo' gi Army sa' malago' yo' bumåsta yan låhyeye pot i lachen i pasapotte-ko
(I quit the Army because I wanted to quit and especially because of an error in my passport)

annai humånao yo' para Guam gi Enero na mes para bai hu hålom gi Army.
(when I went to Guam in the month of January to enter the Army.)

Bai hu refiere atension-miyo ni kåtta siha guine na gaseta.
(I refer your attention to the letters here in this newspaper.)



Apparently, this politician was accused of being such a bad character that he was thrown out of the U.S. Army and forced to return to Saipan.

Still, he won the election! Nonetheless, he thought it important to deny those accusations.

On a side note, notice the abundance of Spanish loan words : pot, otro, kosa, presisamente, deklåra, pupbliko, supone, depotta, sospecho, peligroso, representånte, probecho, infotmasion, kuåtkiet, petsona, ni tampoko, sikiera, måncha, uttimo, biåhe, biktima, sitkunstånsia, båsta, pasapotte, Enero, mes, bai, refiere, atension, kåtta, gaseta.