"JOIN THE NAVY"

In the late 1930s, many young Chamorro men on Guam were joining the Navy. All they were allowed to do was work as mess attendants, and a few other things related to the galley and other chores.

A famous expression was "Join the Navy and see the world."

On Guam, there was a little twist to this saying :

"Join the Navy and see the world.

What did I see? A kitan girl."

Kitan, in Chamorro, means cross-eyed.

Chamorro Navy Recruits in the 1930s

SINANGAN I MAN ÅMKO'

Ti siña ma gåpot i dakngas.

(You cannot pull the hair of the bald.)

The man was bitterly resentful and jealous of the other man's popularity and talents. Slowly, beginning with just one or two people, then gradually speaking to as many as would listen to him, the man began to throw mud on his rival.

Eventually he was brazen enough to stand up in front of the audience and mock and insult the other man. All to no effect. When he was finished, the man he was trying to bring down replied,

"Tåya' problema entre hita na dos. Todo i defekto-ko ni un såsångan, guåho fine'nena hu atmite."
("There is no problem between us two. All my defects you speak of, I am the first to admit.")

The audience burst into enthusiastic applause, and the jealous man took his seat in humiliation.

An older man in the audience turned to another and said, "Ti siña ma gåpot i dakngas."

You cannot humiliate the humble, just as one cannot steal from someone who has nothing. You cannot kill the dead. You cannot pull the hair of a bald man.

If you try to humiliate the humble, you yourself will become humiliated by those standing by watching.

KÅNTA : TRISTE NA MOVIE

In October of 1961, Sue Thompson's single Sad Movies Make Me Cry reached the number 5 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

A Chamorro version was made and Larry Saralu recorded it.

LYRICS

Ilek-ña para u facho'cho' ya humånao yo' para i movie.

(S/he said s/he was going to work and I went to the movies.)

Matå'chong yo' gi siya pues ma puno' i kandet.

(I sat in the seat and then they turned off the lights.)

Ya åntes ha' de u ma tutuhon i litråto

(And just before they started the picture)

hu li'e' mismo i atungo'-ho yan asaguå-ho.

(I saw the very one I knew and my wife/husband.)

Eståba yo' guihe lao ti ma repåra

(I was there but they didn't notice)

ya matå'chong i dos gi me'nå-ho na siya.

(and the two sat in the seats in front of me.)

Na umachiko i dos ai iho måtai yo'.

(When the two kissed each other I died, son.)

Gi durånten man boniton litråto na tumånges yo'.

(During nice movies I cried.)

O triste na movie muna' kåti yo'.

(Oh a sad movie made me cry.)

Kahulo' yo' ya må'pos yo' para iya håme.

(I got up and left for our place.)

Ha faisen yo' si nåna lao sen ti hu sangåne.

(Mother asked me but I said nothing.)

Hu bira i rason-ho ya sige de hu dagi.

(I changed my reason and continued to lie.)

Ilek-ho triste na movie muna' kåti yo'.

(I said sad movies made me cry.)

NOTE

Tånges is crying in the sense of tears flowing from the eyes. Kåti is the audible kind of crying and can also mean any audible scream, as in to honk a car's horn, or the cries of birds.

 ORIGINAL

HAUNTED BY CAROLINIANS?

This office building, which sits right on Marine Corps Drive in Tamuning, not far from the shore, used to house the Pacific Financial Company, now known as the Personal Finance Center. At one time, I believe, the Hakubotan store was located there. Now, as seems obvious, the building serves as the headquarters for the Tenorio-Ada campaign.

I recently talked to an older gentleman whose responsibility it was, back in the 1970s and 80s, to secure the building at night. He told me he'd go in at night long after the offices and store were closed, look around to make sure everything was OK and lock up again. On a few occasions, he said, he'd hear the voices of women and children, as if they were chasing each other in fun. They were pleasant voices, happy words mixed with laughter and giggles. He knew the language wasn't Chamorro, as he speaks Chamorro. And he said it sounded like a "Micronesian" language.

The man also knew, since his family has owned the land for many years, that this area of Tamuning was the site of the old Carolinian village on Guam in the 1800s. He thinks the voices he heard were of these Carolinian residents who used to live around this location, whose bodies were buried here.

If you don't believe in life after death, or the existence of the soul, you'd probably say it was all his imagination, or that, unbeknownst to him, there were living people talking about in the area. It's also possible that Chamorro graves exist below the surface of this ground. The language they spoke didn't have the vocabulary borrowed from Spanish that we have had for over 300 years. Besides that, languages just change on their own, dropping some words, creating new words, modifying pronunciation and so on. If we could hear the Chamorro spoken 800 years ago, chances are we'd find it somewhat familiar but also somewhat different from what we hear today.

The Spaniards called this Carolinian village María Cristina, after the Spanish queen. Colloquially, the Carolinian settlement was called Tamuning (spelled in various ways). This American map above in the early 1900s shows the location. If you look closely, the Carolinian village was located along the shore just where it turns north, in the direction of Alupang (or Alupat) island. This is precisely where the Pacific Financial building is located.

The location of the building, and possibly the old Carolinian village

In 1901, the American Governor, Seaton Schroeder, deported all the Tamuning Carolinians to Saipan (athough later censuses on Guam reveal the presence of a tiny number of Carolinians living in Hagåtña after 1901).

But, lest we forget, for most of the 1800s, Carolinians were born, lived, died and were buried on Guam, right up to 1901.

Maybe some of those sandy graves give up their ghosts once in a while!

Perhaps members of the Tenorio-Ada campaign can tell us later if they hear the voices of Carolinian women and children, like those pictured below, playing chase at 2AM.

Carolinians of Tamuning

THE REOPENING OF PÅGAN AIRSTRIP

The people of Pågan welcome visitors to the reopening of their airstrip in 1967

Of all the islands north of Saipan, perhaps none has been given more attention in recent history than Pågan, with Agrigan coming in a close second.

The island is exquisitely beautiful, it is the largest of the northern islands and it is blessed with much agricultural and fishing potential. Since Spanish times, into the German and Japanese periods, many people have eyed Pågan as a place to make money or simply to live in a tropical paradise.

Except for, of course, those two volcanoes which wake up now and then!

THE JAPANESE AIRSTRIP

The Japanese were the first to lay out an airstrip, beginning in 1935. Around 200 Japanese and 400 Chamorros and Carolinians worked on the project, which involved very strenuous work since the ground was quite hard. When it was finished, the airstrip was not laid over with asphalt. The terrain was smoothed over in order for planes to land, but it was covered in grass.

Pågan Airstrip during World War II

The Japanese knew that war would be coming and the airstrip would be a good military asset. In 1937, the Japanese war preparation effort went into full gear and the Japanese began building a hangar adequate to house ten fighter planes, air raid shelters, pill boxes, anti-aircraft gun placements and four barracks for the eventual 2150 members of the Imperial Japanese Navy garrison stationed there.

In June of 1944, the Americans began bombing Pågan. The Japanese had launched a few air strikes from Pågan aimed at American targets in the southern islands, so the Americans knew they had to take the Pågan airstrip out of business. By August 15, after the Japanese Government in Tokyo surrendered, the Americans began dropping leaflets on Pågan announcing the war's end. By September 3, the Japanese forces on Pågan (short on food by then) peacefully gave themselves up to the American ship that came to accept their surrender.

The Japanese airstrip taking a beating from American bombs in 1944

The airstrip, already partly damaged with bomb craters, was left to decay.

The Japanese left but the Chamorros and Carolinians stayed, their numbers slowly increasing over time. But the only way to get to or leave Pågan by then was by boat.

A TYPHOON INSPIRES AN IDEA

In 1965, Typhoon Carmen blew over Pågan.

The Trust Territory Government knew it needed to bring material relief to the people of Pågan. They did it by boat. But the idea came to the government to explore the possibility of rehabilitating the old Japanese airstrip and resume air transportation to the island.

The District Legislature in Saipan appropriated $7000 and Frank Kaipat was appointed project manager by the District Administrator, Peter Coleman. Some 30 residents of Pågan, and a few Peace Corps volunteers, were involved in smoothing out the airstrip once again. The work began in August of 1966.

The Peace Corps volunteers, by the way, gave the idea of reopening the air strip a push by way of the reopening of Pagan's school. Prior to that, school children in the northern islands were sent to Saipan for schooling, away from their parents. The parents had had enough of that and the Peace Corps volunteers also moved to have schools in the northern islands reopen. All the more reason, then, to have a functional airstrip in Pagan.

Six months later, in February of 1967, Emmet Kay, owner of Micronesian Airlines and pilot of his own plane, the Spirit of Faith, landed in Pågan, the first plane to do so since the war. It was an initial visit, and Emmet flew back to Saipan a child in need of medical care.

FIRST PLANE LANDING ON PAGAN SINCE WW2

(L-R) Peter Coleman, Fr Arnold Bendowske, Emmet Kay

On April 3, 1967, the formal opening of the Pågan airstrip was celebrated. Once again, Emmet Kay flew his plane up. On-board were government representatives from Saipan. The people of Pågan, around 80 all told, came out to welcome the plane and the visitors. Father Arnold of Saipan was on-hand to bless the airstrip.

The airstrip in 1970

Micronesian Airlines started flying regularly to Pågan from Saipan, at first usually once a week. In 1980, the Federal Aviation Administration filed its last report on Pågan airstrip. According to this report, there were two runways on Pågan made of turf and gravel, about 1500 feet long.

There were, on average, 20 flights to Pågan each month, or around 240 a year in those days.

But then, in 1981, Pågan's volcano exploded violently. It continued to erupt every few years for a long time. The residents were evacuated to Saipan since then. Although a few people live on Pågan today, sometimes just for a limited period, the airstrip is used only rarely for brief visits. Most people who travel to Pågan today do so by boat. Mother Nature is reclaiming the airstrip, and it will have to be cleared and smoothed out once again if it is to be used in the future.

Pågan Airstrip

SINANGAN I MAN ÅMKO'

Paul Jacoulet

I guinaiya maila' ya ta manifiesta,

lao i linachi maila' ya ta dispensa.

Sa' todo man eskuela,

lao ti todo man malåte'.

Come let us show forth love,

but let us forgive mistakes.

Because all go to school,

but not all are intelligent.

~ Leila Camacho

AUDIO

I AYUNAT ÅNTES NA TIEMPO

Eskabeche

(guampedia.com)

From a sermon written in 1873

The Chamorro here reflects the language of that period, which differs slightly from ours today.

I ayunat, famagu'on-ho, i chinemma' i palo na nengkanno',
(Fasting, my children, is the prohibition of some food,)

yan uno' ha' na chinecho. (1)
(and only one meal.)

An ta tataitai i istorian i man mo'na na mangilisyåno,
(When we read the history of the first Christians,)

ta lili'e' na ayo siha, ni i mangefmanhongge na taotao,
(we see that those who really believed,)

man ayuyunat duroro, mañocho un biåhe ha' kada ha'åne,
(fasted severely, they are just once each day,)

ya i nengkanno'-ñiñiha håf na ågon yan hånom na maisa,
(and their food was whatever bread and water alone,)

ya asta guaha palo lokkue', na tåt nai man mañåggue håfa gi dos,
(and there were even some who never trembled at two,)

tres i asta un semåna entero (2), ya guaha palo na såntos,
(three and up to a whole week, and there are other saints,)

ni i ha kåkånno' i kumomotgan na maisa gi todo i tiempon Kuaresma,
(who ate only Holy Communion for the entire time of Lent,)

lao ti håf na nengkanno'.
(but no other food.)

I mañaina-ta gi hinengge ha na' fan mamåhlao hit, an ta kompåpåra (3)
(Our forefathers in faith make us ashamed, if we compare)

i ayunat-ñiha yan i ayunåt-ta på'go na tiempo.
(their fasting and our fasting nowadays.)

Hu tutungo' na hita mås man dafe' ke siha,
(I know that we are weaker than they,)

ya muna' ennao i Sånta Mådre Iglesia manånågo'
(and because of that Holy Mother Church orders)

ya ha enkåtga hit i sumen suåbe na ayunat.
(and obligates us with the gentlest of fasts.)

NOTES

(1) Chinecho. This comes from the root word chocho, which means to eat. The -in infix makes the verb a noun, meaning "a meal." But today this is rarely heard.  The more usual word for "meal" nowadays is sentåda.

(2) I believe he means there were some who weren't afraid to fast two, three days up to a whole week.

(3) Kompåra. Nowadays, many say akompåra, which also means "to compare."

AUDIO

CHAMORROS MINING MERCURY

The mine is now a ghost town

It was the second busiest mercury mine in America. Mercury is very important in separating gold from whatever else from the earth mixed with the gold while it was still buried in the earth. When gold was discovered in California, mercury became a very important commodity.

The New Idria mercury mine was located near the small town of Panoche in San Benito County, California, southeast of Salinas.

In 1900, two, possibly three, Chamorros worked there.

One was a miner. Félix Castro, aged 33 years old, was described as being able to read, write and speak English. He had moved to the U.S. in 1890. He was single in 1900.

The second worked at the mine but as a furnace man. Manuel de León, aged 35. He, too, could read, write and speak English. The record says he immigrated to the U.S. in 1879, which would make him a mere 13 years old. Not impossible, but unusually young, unless the age and dates are just guesses, as they often were. The record days that Manuel was married, but his wife does not appear with him in the record, so we don't know who she was.

There was also a José Salas, aged 30. He was identified as coming from the Philippines, but the Marianas had been a province of the Philippines for a while under Spain, so some Chamorros were identified as being from the Philippines. Later prison records reveal that a Joe Salas, convicted for forgery, was from Guam and had been a miner in San Benito.

Location of the Mine

LACE CURTAIN CHAMORROS

Home of a Manakkilo' in Hagåtña

Early 1900s

In almost every human community, there are always the haves and the have-nots.

Long before the arrival of the Spanish, our ancient society was divided into three classes, as well. The lowest class, the mangachang, had fewer rights and fewer material goods.

Under Spain, how could an ambitious Chamorro advance?

Since there were very few opportunities to make money in trade and commerce, the best way to an improved economic life was the government and the salaries it paid. Government jobs were few. Teachers made a little money, and there weren't many teaching positions available. Soldiers made a handful of money, often paid in goods rather than cash. The better salaries were in clerking for the court and other government offices. This required a very good knowledge of the Spanish language. It was from government positions that some families then ventured into commerce and trade, limited as they were at the time.

These elite families took on more of a Spanish flavor, as well, having a good grasp of Spanish language and manners. The people called them the manakkilo', the high ones, from the word takkilo' (high).

An American writer in 1902 who visited Guam that year describes visiting the home of one of these elite Chamorros.

"They live in houses built of coral stone, having the necessities and a few of the luxuries of life. A prosperous merchant of Agana is educating his son in Manila, and his home is very inviting; stone steps leading from the hot, dusty street into a large, cool hall, paved with colored tiles, in which stand a long, cane-seated sofa and several chairs. At the end and to the right of the hall, broad stairs lead to the rooms above which are spacious and airy. Lace curtains before the windows, easy chairs, a piano, many ornaments and pictures and the highly-polished floor betoken his comfortable circumstances."

"Houses built of coral stone" means mampostería, a mixture of stone and mortar. "Highly-polished floors" probably meant wooden floors made with ifit wood, which were polished using coconut husks.

Chamorro ladies of the elite class

MARKING LAND BOUNDARIES

MARKED WITH AN "H"

With a population of less than 10,000 in the entire island most of the time in the 17 and 1800s, Guam had a lot of empty, unused land. Sometimes people just used idle land without knowing who was the owner. At times, after a long period of unchallenged and uninterrupted use, people formally claimed ownership of land based on prior usage alone - and got it! In the Spanish land documents, they said they acquired the land por mera ocupación - by merely occupying the land.

But one way many people marked out their land boundaries was by etching letters into the trunks of trees on the property.

A stone land marker was called a mohón, borrowed from the Spanish word mojón, meaning the same thing.

But many people found it easier to just take a chisel (so'so') and hammer (mattiyo), or whatever tools they had, and mark the trunks of trees with letters.

In this court document, someone seeking official recognition of his ownership uses ifil trees marked A and B to serve as mohón or land boundary markers.

They could then say that their land started at this tree marked A, then going east to tree marked B, then north to tree marked C, then going west to tree marked D and finally going south back to tree marked A.

HOMEMADE LAND MAP FROM 1902

The boundaries of the above land map, written in Spanish, are marked with trees which are themselves marked with letters.

On the top left, a coconut tree (coco) marked with a B.

On the top right, a cotton tree (algodón) marked with a V.

On the bottom left, another cotton tree marked with a D.

On the bottom right, yet a third cotton tree marked an S.

KÅNTA : I FLECHAN YU'US

This song compares the love God has for us to an arrow that penetrates our hearts deeply.

Chorus :
I flechan Yu'us ha tokcha' hit;
(The arrow of God has pierced us;)
i korason-ña ha guaiya hit.
(His heart loves us.)

1. Håfa Jesus-ho i malago'-mo gi dinilok-mo nu i taotao?
(What, my Jesus, do you desire from your piercing of the people?)
Yanggen i sensen pat i anti-ña, Yu'us Lahi-ña chuli'e' hao!
(If it's the flesh or its soul, God the Son, take it for Yourself!)

2. Guåho magåhet lånsan Longinos, kalåktos, inos, flumecha hao.
(I am truly the lance of Longinus, sharp and easily inserted, which pierced You.)
Tåya' dumulok i korason-mo na i patgon-mo ni guåho ha'.
(Nothing pierced your heart but your child which I am.)

3. Sahguan guinaiya, figan na hotno, i korason-mo, mames Jesus.
(Vessel of love, fiery furnace, is your heart, sweet Jesus.)
Tåya' taiguennao na ginefli'e' ha na' ma li'e' na si Yu'us.
(None has shown that kind of love except God.)

NOTES

In verse 1, we consider that the love that God has for us pierces our hearts and makes us love Him back. The love we have for God shows in our willingness to surrender to Him everything we have and are, both body (flesh) and soul.

In verse 2, we consider that we, too, have pierced God's heart but in a painful way by our sins which offend Him. We are like the spear of the Roman soldier Longinus who, in order to make sure Jesus was dead, pierced His side when He was hanging on the cross. The song uses the word flecha, which means "arrow," as a verb : to shoot an arrow at Jesus. And, to consider that we who pierce God are the children He created. Such ingratitude!

In verse 3, we consider that the love of God is mighty like a blazing furnace. No one can say he or she loves us as much as God because, being Almighty God, He lowers Himself to become a victim for our sins and thus save us by His sacrifice. Just as a fire destroys, God's love allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross in order to prove to us His immense love.

LONGINUS

was the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a lance

LOST SURNAMES : QUITONGUICO

When some of us first got to know the future Father Patrick Garcia, we learned that his middle names were Kenny and Quitonguico.

We had never heard the name Quitonguico before and wondered what it was and where it came from. In time, I learned that it was a Chamorro name and that it belonged to Fr. Pat's grandmother.

The surname disappeared, for various reasons. Fr. Pat was the last one to have it included in his full name.

INALÅHAN

The Quitonguico name goes back to the early 1800s, if not earlier.

In 1823, a Juan Quitonguico was born, but died in infancy.

A José Quitonguico of Inalåhan lived long enough to marry one Marta Chargualaf. They had two sons.

Marcos married Petra Quichocho and ended up living in Malesso'. His son Pedro died before getting married, and his only other son, Juan, married but had no children.

Pedro Quitonguico's signature in 1901

So that left it to José and Marta's only remaining son, Félix, to continue the family name. Félix, staying in Inalåhan, married Agustina Taimanglo. They had several children, including sons, but only one daughter, Amparo, seems to have had children.

Amparo was single at the time so those children would have carried the Quitonguico name, and they did, for a while at least. But, one by one, the children adopted other surnames, keeping Quitonguico as a middle name in some cases.

Amparo had a daughter Engracia, who eventually added Palomo as her surname. She then married a Garcia and her grandson, the future Father Patrick, was given the middle name Quitonguico to honor that heritage.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

That, I'm afraid, is unknown for sure. We can theorize that the Qui in the name is Ke, meaning "to attempt to." It is found in other Chamorro surnames like Quitugua and Quichocho. But that is only an assumption.

But the -tonguico part of it is a mystery. It is possible that tongui is tongge, which is a shortening of tunokgue, which means "to come down to someone or something." The -co could be -ko, the possessive suffix meaning "my." Putting it all together, Quitonguico could be ke+tongge+ko. "My would-be coming down" or something close to that.

It's just a guess, but a good guess might get us closer to the bulls eye.

I TRES PATÅS-ÑA NA MÅNNOK

Humånao un maestron UOG para un låncho sa' ha hungok

(A UOG teacher went to a ranch because he heard) 

na guaha lanchero ni mamomoksai meggai na månnok ni tres påtas-ñiha. 

(that there was a rancher who was raising many three-legged chickens.)

Ha faisen i lanchero, "Håfa na tres påtas-ñiha i ga'-mo månnok siha?" 

(He asked the rancher, "Why do your chickens have three feet?")

Manoppe i lanchero, "Ke sa' ya-ho chumocho påtas månnok, i asaguå-ho ya-ña lokkue' 

(The rancher answered, "Well I like to eat chicken feet, my wife also likes)

chumocho påtas månnok yan kontodo i lahen-måme ya-ña chumocho påtas månnok. 

(to eat chicken feet and our son as well likes to eat chicken feet.)

Pues hu eyak håfa taimano siña ma tulaika i iyon-ñiha DNA 

(So I learned how to change their DNA)

kosa ke u guaha tres påtas-ñiha kada ma pulakis i chada'."

(so that they would have three feet each time the egg is hatched.")

"O," ilek-ña i maestro, "ya kao månnge' i tres patås-ña na månnok?" 

("Oh," the teacher said, "and is a three-legged chicken delicious?")

"Ti hu tungo', señot," ilek-ña i lanchero. "Mampos chaddek malågo ya ti siña hu gacha'."

("I don't know, sir," said the rancher. "It runs too fast and I can't catch it.")

HIDDEN HUMÅTAK

HUM­ÅTAK'S HIDDEN SPANISH BRIDGE

In a number of places on Guam, you and I can drive right by and not realize that you just passed physical remains of our island's history.

Such is the case with a Spanish bridge in Humåtak that lies hidden underneath modern concrete and asphalt.

FROM HÅGAT TO HUMÅTAK

The yellow line from Hågat to Humåtak

During the 1700s, Humåtak was the place to be. That's where most of the ships anchored when they came to Guam. For that reason, the Spanish Governor moved down to Humåtak whenever the yearly Acapulco galleon pulled in, or if another ship happened to stop by. Granted, this wasn't very often. There were years that not even the Acapulco galleon made a stop. But, in the 1700s, if there was any maritime action, it was mainly to be seen in Humåtak. This meant the arrival of new people and new merchandise; supplies for the church and the government.

For this reason, a road from Hågat to Humåtak was laid out, following the rugged western coast of the island. In many places, bridges had to be built to cross streams and rivers. That's why we find bridges still in existence in places like Talaifak and Sella (Sehya). That's where the coastal road from Hågat to Humåtak went through.

Why is there a bridge in Sella, where nobody lives?
Getting to Humåtak was the point.

NOT MUCH CHOICE

When the road finally got down to Humåtak, it had to cross a stream at the northern part of the village. So the Spaniards built a bridge. The bridge is still in existence, but you wouldn't know it unless someone told you, or if you happened to get down from your car and started snooping.

When a modern bridge was to be built, the planners probably thought they didn't have much of a choice but to build right over the old bridge. The stream isn't that wide, so they just poured concrete over the old bridge, then laid the asphalt and widened the road a bit. Between the coast and the hills, there isn't much land to maneuver with.

Modern concrete on top of old Spanish-period mampostería

During Spanish times, people frequently built using mampostería, a mixture of stone and mortar (for example, wet sand with lime). Coral rocks from the seashore were often used and you can see the identifying grooves of the coral.

Coral Rock

Cut Stone was also used

The stream isn't very wide; in the dry season there isn't even any water.

JOAQUINA'S BAD NIGHT

Old Hagåtña

We all have our low moments and Joaquina's was one night in September of 1902. That's when she allowed herself to drink too much. That she remembered. What she didn't remember, so she claimed, was the ruckus she caused that night.

Around 830 one Sunday night, a woman screaming obscenities could be heard in the streets of Hagåtña.

"Puñetera! Karåho! Demonio!" Very dirty words in Chamorro.

Not only were these words echoed in the neighborhood, the shouting woman was doing it in front of the Protestant chapel, right when the Protestants were conducting Sunday night services!

Security officials were alerted. Pedro Mendiola Delgado and Mariano de los Reyes came on the scene and saw Joaquina in the middle of the street, shouting these profanities. The two officers moved her along and told her to be quiet. She acquiesced for the moment.

But Joaquina was just biding her time. She took her intoxicated noise down to Calle Numancia, a street right in the middle of San Ignacio barrio, the heart of the capital city. Today, it would be just west of the Agaña Post Office.

Location of Calle Numancia in San Ignacio, Hagåtña

In Calle Numancia, Joaquina walked up to Filomena's house and pounded on the door.

"Puñetera! Puta! Kochina!" More foul words.

"Huyong ya este ha' mågi na hu yamak hao ya un tungo' håye yo'!"

"Come out and right here I will break you and you'll know who I am!"

Filomena was in bed. It was around 9PM now. She had no idea who was making all the noise. She opened her window and saw that it was Joaquina. She could tell that Joaquina was drunk. Filomena closed the window and went back to bed, even though Joaquina started yelling all over again.

José Cruz Fejarang and José Castro Aflague were also awakened by the noise and went to see what was going on.

In time, Joaquina was taken to court. The officials called in various witnesses. This story is taken from those court records.

One witness was José Blas Pangelinan, a carpenter whose house faced the Protestant house chapel. When asked what he knew of the incident, he said all he knew was that Joaquina was shouting obscenities in the street, but he didn't know to whom Joaquina was directing her attacks because he was in the habit of closing up his house as soon as the Protestants started their services!

Joaquina told the court that all she could remember was that she got drunk. What she did in her inebriated state, she had no recollection of. If she did those things she was being accused of, she begged the mercy of the court, as she had no intention of doing them.

The court levied a fine on her, or prison days if she had no money.