ONE-PARTY VILLAGES?

 

It used to be that Guam, in the 1950s and 60s, was almost a one-party island.

The Popular Party, and then the Democratic Party, held onto 100% of the Guam Legislature between 1956 and 1970, with just a two-year break (1964 to 1966) when the Territorial Party won the majority.

By 1970, Guam had become a two-party island, with the newly-established Republican Party winning some seats in the Legislature and even eventually the majority of the Legislature for a time. The Republicans also did well in the Gubernatorial elections, starting with the first one in 1970 which they won.

VILLAGE COMMISSIONERS / MAYORS

THREE CANDIDATES FOR COMMISSIONER IN 1968

NO PARTY AFFILIATION STATED

Up until 1970, village Commissioners (what we now call Mayors) were not elected under a party banner.

In 1970, a law was passed giving some villages (Dededo, Hågat) an Assistant Commissioner. So an election was held that year for that position, and this time it was by party affiliation. No Commissioner was being elected in 1970, since the last election for that office was in 1968 for a four-year term.

It was not until the 1972 election that candidates for Commissioner were now placed on the ballot under a party, Democrat or Republican.

Even when the Commissioner's office was non-partisan, nearly all the Commissioners were known for their allegiance to one of the two parties. It's just that they didn't run under a political party till 1972.

SINCE 1972 : NEVER ELECTED A DEMOCRAT

ALL MANGILAO MAYORS SINCE 1972 HAVE BEEN REPUBLICANS

But since the office of Commissioner (later Mayor) became partisan in 1972, three villages have never elected a Democrat as Commissioner or Mayor.

They are :

MANGILAO

Nick Francisco, Nito Blas and Allan Ungacta have all been Republicans.

TAMUNING

Greg Calvo, Sr., Al Dungca, Luís Herrero, Concepción Dueñas, Francisco Blas and Louise Rivera have all been Republicans.

HAGÅTÑA

For the record, in 1972, Hagåtña elected an Independent. Tomás Flores Mendiola ran as an Independent seeking the seat of the Republican incumbent at the time, Lucas San Nicolás.

Still, electing an Independent is not the same as electing a Democrat, and everyone knew that Mendiola was a Republican, and he identified as such in the 1976 election. But since he was after a sitting Republican's position in 1972, he ran as an Independent.

Those who came after Mendiola - Félix Ungacta and John Cruz - have both been Republicans.

NEVER ELECTED A REPUBLICAN

ALL DEMOCRATS

On the other end of the political spectrum is my village - SINAJAÑA - which has never elected a Republican Commissioner or Mayor since the office became partisan in 1972. Sometimes the Republicans just didn't enter a candidate at all for the mayoral race in Sinajaña.

Every other village on Guam has elected Commissioners or Mayors from either party, even if it was only one time for one of the two parties.

2024 ELECTION

Among all four villages which have never elected a Mayor from the opposing party, things will stay exactly the same for the next four years. This year, the voters will elect their Mayor for the next four years, but in three of these four villages, the current incumbent is running unopposed, securing their victory before a single ballot has been cast.

They are :

MANGILAO	ALLAN UNGACTA	REPUBLICAN
SINAJAÑA	ROBERT HOFMANN	DEMOCRAT
TAMUNING	LOUISE RIVERA	REPUBLICAN

Because these three incumbents have been automatically re-elected, their respective parties retain the Mayor's position.

But even in the fourth village, where there are more than one candidate for Mayor, both candidates are from the same party.

They are from Hagåtña and they are both Republicans.

HAGÅTÑA	JOVYNA SAN AGUSTIN	REPUBLICAN
HAGÅTÑA	MICHAEL GUMATAOTAO	REPUBLICAN

Thus, no matter who wins the Mayor's position for Hagåtña in 2024, it will be a Republican, maintaining that party's exclusive claim on that office for now.

THE FUTURE

Only God knows if, one day in the future, a Democratic Mayor will be elected in Hagåtña, Mangilao or Tamuning, and a Republican Mayor in Sinajaña.

Most people would agree that, in the near future, the hardest would be Sinajaña, where the Democratic Party has been historically so strong that even the occasional Republican is dissuaded from running. "Don't even bother," some are told, if they are Republican. But fifty years from now? Who knows?

Mangilao might have the better chance for a Democrat to be elected. Its population is very mixed politically, and it all depends if the Democrats can present a strong candidate one day.

Hagåtña and Tamuning tend to be Republican, but the future depends on the attractiveness of the individual candidate and on weakening party loyalty. A Democrat may well win in those villages, but the future remains to be seen.

THE TERRITORIAL JINGLE

 

Before there were Democrats and Republicans on Guam, there were the Popular and the Territorial Parties.

If the Popular (later Democrats) were Goliath, then the Territorials were David. Except that, in this case, David hit Goliath in the forehead only one time, and Goliath got back up.

In all the 1950s and 60s, the Territorials won only one legislative election and that was in 1964. Two years later the Territorials lost the election and by that I mean they lost every single legislative seat. In 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1966 and 1968 the Popular/Democrats won ALL 21 SEATS in the Legislature.

But that didn't mean the Territorials didn't try.

In the very spirited campaigns of those olden days, when people of both parties campaigned with great passion and commitment, music played a role in boosting morale. Jingles were very common in those days, sung in rallies and meetings and even played on loud speakers mounted on pickup trucks going around the village.

In the 50s and 60s, the Chamorro language was still going strong on Guam and many of the voters spoke best in Chamorro, and were best spoken to in Chamorro. In almost all the villages, everything was conducted in Chamorro except for a few villages where there were non-Chamorro voters and some of the speeches were given in English.

Here is a Territorial Party jingle in Chamorro from the 1960s which Ruby Aquiningoc Santos remembers to this day. Just goes to show how frequently this jingle was sung for her to remember it some 60 years later.

BOTA I TERRITORIAL, CHE'LU;

(Vote for the Territorials, brother/sister;)

BOTA TERRITORIAL YA TA GÅNNA I DEMOCRATIC, CHE'LU.

(Vote Territorial and we'll beat the Democrats, brother/sister.)

TERRITORIAL PARTY CONVENTION OF 1964

The only election the Territorials ever won

UNUSUAL MEDICINE

 

Even as late as the early 1800s, that is, 120 years after Spanish colonization, our ancestors turned to some very unusual (for us) remedies for illnesses, using the things available to them at the time.

Unusual things such as diseased body parts and animal poo.

French visitors to Guam in 1819 wrote down their observations, describing some of these unusual cures. Some of these remedies used things that only came after Spanish colonization, such as some animals. But the principles probably went far back to pre-contact times.

Access to western medications was very limited, so one has to keep in mind that necessity is the mother of invention. When one is sick, one takes what one can get.

TÅKE' BABUI

One Chamorro lady fried pig feces in oil and applied the paste to the part of her body that ached. She boasted how the pain went away. The French doctor remarked that it was simply the heat of the fried manure that did the trick.

The Frenchman only had to remember that the ancient Romans and Egyptians also used fecal matter, both human and animal, in various cures. The Romans, for example, considered that animal manure was good fertilizer. It made the land grow and produce. So perhaps it could also heal the human body. Cows and other ruminants ate herbs that were known for their healing properties, so the digested herbs in cow manure could possibly heal as well, so they thought.

Another Chamorro took canker sores that had come off and boiled them in water till half the liquid evaporated. In one gulp, she drank the brew and cured her stitches, which are cramps or aches around the abdomen or sides.

SPIDER'S WEB

To cure indigestion, rice flour is grilled with spider's web (tararåñas or tiraråñas), and then the powder is added to water and the patient is given this to drink.

Perhaps less distasteful, to us, were other ingredients used in remedies such as grease, charcoal and the soot of burnt shells.

In addition to these, our ancestors had recourse to the many and varied plants that had curative benefits. Although some of these plants are very bitter to the taste, we wouldn't find them as strange to consume as tåke' babui or tararåñas.