HÅYE SI SOCOCO?

In the famous song recorded by the Delgado Brothers, Ramon San, the second verse begins with :

Si Sococo segundo-ña

sa' ha dåkngas ilu-ña.

Eyo mina' må'gas gue'

Sococo was his second-in-command

because he shaved his head.

That's what made him a boss.

Now, who was this Sococo?

Was he a fictional character? Or was he a real person?

I knew from the 1897 Guam Census that there was indeed a family by the last name Sococo. We don't hear about them on Guam anymore because, as far as we can tell, no one has that last name anymore.

But, just to be sure, I called up one of the Delgado Brothers to find out.

According to him, to the best of his recollection, a man named Benavente from Dededo, composed the song Ramon San.

The "Sococo" in the song is not really Sococo. It was a nickname given to a man by the last name San Agustin.

But while we're on this topic, we might as well talk about the real Sococos.

In the village of Asan, in the 1890s during Spanish times, lived a Chinese man named Manuel Sococo. Like many Chinese settlers on Guam, his last named ended in -co (Unpingco, Limtiaco).

He was married to an Asan lady named Juliana Megofña.

They had five daughters, it seems, and no sons. But the oldest girl had a son out of wedlock so he carried the Sococo name. The boy's name was Jose.

Jose may have been the Jose who fathered children with his wife Rosa Ungacta. A son of theirs, Peter, left Guam and joined the US Navy in 1939. He had a brilliant Navy career for over 30 years as a submariner.

Peter Sococo, USN

Sococo married in the States and had three daughters.

There were a few other Sococos but, apparently, the family name disappeared in Guam in the last few decades.

***UPDATE***

According to one source, the composer named Benavente was Vicente San Agustin Benavente (familian Chedo') of Dededo and former Commissioner of that village.