ESTORIAN PING CRUZ

Jose Mesa Cruz

grandson of José Sisto

He is 94 years old as of 2016 and he is cheerful, healthy and full of life. He was born in Hagåtña in 1922 but left Guam for good in 1940 when he joined the US Navy. In those days, Chamorro men who joined the US Navy could only serve as mess hall attendants. Other Chamorros teasingly called them marinon mantekiya, or "butter sailors" because, unlike the others, these Chamorro Navy men could buy butter at the Navy commissary.

His ship was out of Pearl Harbor for two days already, en route to San Francisco, when the Japanese bombed the American ships in Hawaii. His older brother Henry was on the USS Arizona and survived the bombing. Ping saw action in the South Pacific and then later settled in Southern California where he still lives today, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

As a youth in Guam, Ping attended the Guam Institute, the only private school on Guam in the 1920s and 30s. He remember the owner and principal, Nieves M. Flores, and his two sons Alejo and Sabino.

His father owned a bar and a pool hall on Hagåtña's main street.

JOSÉ SISTO

Between June 22, 1898 and August 1, 1899, Guam was in a chaotic political situation. The Americans had removed the Spanish Government from Guam, but did not install a clear, stable American Government until the arrival of the first US Governor appointed by the US President, in August of 1899.

One claimant to authority over Guam was a man named Jose Sisto, whose full name was Jose Sisto Rodrigo Vallabriga. He had been the island treasurer, officially the Administrator of the Department of the "Hacienda Pública," or "Public Works." Unlike the other Spanish government officials, the US Navy did not remove Sisto and take him to Manila. Thus, Sisto claimed, he was still a government official and the highest one remaining, ensuring him, in his mind, control over the government.

Sisto was opposed by Padre Palomo, Francisco Portusach and other Chamorro leaders. They accused him of emptying the island treasury by paying himself his salary in advance. When stronger American control came to Guam, Sisto resigned office, was ordered to repay the island treasury and left for Manila.

All of this is well-known in the history books.

What wasn't well-known is that Sisto fathered children while he was on Guam. According to family lore, Rosa Cruz was a domestic worker at the Governor's Palåsyo, or palace. She became romantically involved with Sisto and became the mother of two sons of Sisto, Juan and Jose, who carried their mother's maiden name of Cruz. Juan and Jose were twins, so their descendants were known as the Dinga ("twins") family. Rosa later married into the Gåbit (Pereda) family and became known as Rosa'n Gåbit.

Jose, son of Sisto, married Andrea Mesa. In the picture below, Jose (son of Sisto), Andrea, Jose (or Ping) and his older brother Henry are identified.

                                                  (Courtesy of Carmelita Edwards)

WHO WAS JOSÉ SISTO?

Most of the literature in English speaks of José Sisto as a "Filipino Spaniard." That's not an exact phrase and can mean more than one thing. Was he a Spaniard who just happened to be born and raised in the Philippines? Or was he of mixed blood, Spanish and Filipino? In the 1800s, "Filipino" when said by Spaniards meant a Spaniard born in the Philippines.

But Sisto was brother to Francisco Sisto, a lifelong government official in Madrid. His family tree is documented, and that's how we know that José Sisto was a Spaniard. The Sisto family was a Målaga family of good social standing.

If the Americans deported all the Spanish government officials, that is, government officials who were Spanish by race and birth, why then did they leave José Sisto behind on Guam? The only possible explanation is that he was totally a civilian, not a member in any way of the Spanish military. Everyone else taken away was a member of the Spanish military, including the medical doctor because he was an actual member of the military. But Spanish civilians, like the Recollect priests, for example, were allowed to remain, as were the few Spaniards (Bordallo, Muñoz) married to Chamorro women.