FIRST PINOY ELECTED

 

PROSPERO "POPOY" ZAMORA

Dededo Commissioner 1976

Popoy Zamora was a novelty on Guam in the 1970s. For those of us already around back then and active in politics, as I was even though I was still a teenager, Popoy stood out. He was a Filipino occupying a very "Chamorro" position - village Commissioner; what we call Mayor nowadays.

I say "Chamorro" position not because the law said Commissioners had to be Chamorro, but because the reality at the time was that village Commissioners were all Chamorros, leading villages that were Chamorro in the majority. But here we had a Filipino Commissioner! The first! He stood out.

CAREFUL CAREFUL!

But we have to be careful to be accurate in our claims about Popoy's public record.

One website claimed he was Guam's first Filipino elected to public office. This is not accurate. "Public office" means any government elected or appointed position, such as Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Mayor/Commissioner and Judge. There were Filipino Senators elected long before Popoy was elected Assistant Commissioner of Dededo. Most people alive today just don't know about them.

A Guam newspaper also got it wrong, claiming that Popoy was the first Filipino on Guam elected Commissioner; but he was never elected Commissioner. He was elected Assistant Commissioner, and then served as Commissioner to complete the vacancy left by the Commissioner who stepped down from office.

One of our island TV news outlets stated that Popoy was elected Dededo Commissioner in 1973. He was elected Assistant Commissioner, not Commissioner.

So I am writing this blog article to correct the media inaccuracies concerning the record of a man who we remember fondly and who stood out in the public arena many years ago.

FILIPINO

And I want to be clear what I mean by "Filipino." 

For the purpose of identifying the first Filipino Commissioner on Guam, I mean a person exclusively of Filipino heritage, and born in the Philippines. 

Chamorros with one Filipino parent

Someone like Adrian Cristóbal, elected Senator in 1952, long before Popoy's public service, had a Filipino father. Some might consider him to be Filipino. But he himself considered himself to be Chamorro because he had a Chamorro mother, and Chamorros also considered him to be Chamorro for that reason. For the Chamorro, as soon as you have one Chamorro ancestor, you're considered Chamorro.

Filipino by blood, but born on Guam

Then we have people who are Filipino by blood and who do not have any Chamorro ancestors, but they were born on Guam before the war, and grew up speaking Chamorro. Chamorros considered them "one of our own," perhaps we can say "adopted" Chamorros because Guam was all they knew and they took on Chamorro ways and language.

We can think of Simon Ángeles Sánchez, born on Guam and whose parents were both Filipino. A long-time educator, he served as Commissioner of Tamuning from 1946 to 1948.

León Dungca Flores was elected to the First Guam Legislature in 1950, long before Popoy served as Assistant Commissioner. Flores also didn't have a drop of Chamorro blood, as both his parents were of Filipino blood only, but he was born here, grew up speaking Chamorro and married a Chamorro, so he was considered one of our own.

Paul Dungca Palting was elected five times to the Guam Legislature, the first time in 1952, again long before Popoy served as Assistant Commissioner, and he, too, was Filipino by blood but born on Guam.

Sánchez, Flores and Palting did not have any Chamorro ancestors, but Chamorros considered them "one of our own," locals, adopted Chamorros....whichever description fits best.

So who was the first Filipino, whose parents were Filipino, and who was born in the Philippines, to be elected to public office on Guam after the war?

THAT TITLE BELONGS TO....

ALBERTO TOMINEZ LAMORENA

First Filipino Elected to a Guam Political Office

Alberto Tominez Lamorena was a Filipino, born in the Philippines, who married a Chamorro, Fe Untalan Cristóbal (whose father was Filipino and whose mother was Chamorro) in the Philippines. Fe was sent to school in Manila before World War II. After the war, she and her husband moved to Guam where he practiced law. He was elected to the Eighth Guam Legislature in 1964, eight years before Popoy was elected Assistant Commissioner of Dededo in 1972.

OSCAR LIBOON DELFIN

Senator in the 9th, 10th and 11th Legislatures

Lamorena was followed in the very next Legislature, the Ninth, by another Filipino born in the Philippines, Oscar Liboon Delfin, who was re-elected two more times to serve also in the Tenth and Eleventh Legislatures. His elected service pre-dates Popoy's.

POPOY WAS ELECTED ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER

1973 Campaign Ad

In 1973, there was a special election for Assistant Commissioner of Dededo. Popoy was the lone Republican candidate for that office and he won the election, beating his Democratic opponents. That special election was held on December 15, 1973.

In 1976, the Commissioner of Dededo, Vicente SA Benavente, decided to retire even before his term was due to expire later that year. Popoy, as Assistant, automatically became Commissioner of Dededo. But he was not elected Commissioner; he filled the vacancy created by Benavente's retirement.

This press release from the Mayors Council of Guam on the passing of Popoy explains it correctly. Popoy was elected Assistant Commissioner and became Commissioner by filling a vacancy. Only the election year was inaccurate in this press release.

Interestingly, the local newspaper that incorrectly stated that Popoy was elected Mayor/Commissioner included this memo in its news article. If only the newspaper had learned from the memo it included in the story!

Popoy decided to run for Senator at the end of 1976, but lost. Having run for a different office in 1976, his term as Commissioner of Dededo expired that year (actually, early January of 1977).

Popoy did win a seat as a delegate in Guam's Constitutional Convention in 1977.

SO WHO WAS FIRST?

First Filipino ELECTED Commissioner or Mayor? NOBODY

Popoy was elected Assistant Commissioner and then became Commissioner by filling the vacancy created by the sitting Commissioner's retirement.

We now have a second Filipino elected Vice Mayor, Loreto Leones of Yigo.

But, so far, no Filipino has ever been ELECTED Mayor of any village. It truly is a "Chamorro" position FOR NOW. 

As the record shows, Filipinos have been elected to even higher office (Senator) and some of these Filipinos were elected Senator in the 1960s when Filipino voters were a much smaller voting bloc.

So, from a numerical standpoint, there is no reason why a Filipino couldn't be elected Mayor of, let's say, villages with a sizeable Filipino population, such as Dededo, Yigo and Tamuning, if not due to his or her personal merits, then at least due in part to big help from a large Filipino voting base.

But there haven't been enough strong Filipino candidates so far, or they have been matched by equally strong (or stronger) Chamorro candidates.

The future will show us if that situation changes.