WHY THEY CRIED AT TIGUAK CEMETERY

 

Tiguak, usually spelled Tiguac, is Guam's one and only public cemetery. It's also perhaps Guam's most pitiful cemetery.

Recently, in the news, it's been announced that the cemetery has only 8 burial plots left. A bill has been introduced to give the cemetery more land adjacent to the present cemetery. But some community leaders are saying more land is not the only issue; properly maintaining the cemetery that already exists is just as important an issue, and that the Government has done a poor job of it.

Many might be surprised to know this is not a new problem. People were decrying the condition of Tiguak Cemetery right from the beginning.

The Guam Code authorized the Government of Guam to establish a public cemetery, but nothing was done to put this into effect in the 1950s. In 1961, Governor Flores designated nearly 20 acres in Talofofo to be used for a public cemetery, but it was never done.

Then in 1964, the need for a public cemetery was brought up in the Guam Legislature. Up to that time, your options for burial on Guam were just with the Catholic and Protestant cemeteries, and, much more rarely, the US Naval Cemetery in East Agaña. But these cemeteries were filling up fast. The Catholic cemeteries ordinarily buried only Catholics, and even Protestants who were not Baptists or Seventh Day Adventists depended on the good graces of those two churches to bury them. Then there would come the time when people with no religion, or non-Christian people, would need a final resting place.

The days of relying on the churches to bury everybody were fast coming to an end. Both Catholic and Protestant church leaders urged the Government to move on a public cemetery. In late 1965, Governor Manuel Guerrero chose Tiguak as the site of Guam's first and only public cemetery, but funding would have to come from the Guam Legislature.

EL PATIO FIRE IN 1957

Interestingly, the site Guerrero put aside for a cemetery had been the location of a popular nightclub called El Patio which had burned down! Perhaps that should have been an indication that the area was under a cloud of some sort.

By January of 1967, the news reported that Public Works was building a road leading into the cemetery. That February, a documented burial took place at the cemetery.

But it seems that building a road to Tiguak, and removing tall grass and trees, was all the Government did. The rest was up to the family of the deceased. No structures of any sort were built. No hall, no restroom, no parking. A grave was dug and the coffin lowered into it. It was the family's decision what marker was to be placed. 

Part of the challenge was the terrain. A lot of Tiguak is not level, but slopes down into gullies. The landscape makes it very hard to even the ground.

ALREADY COMPLAINTS IN 1968

"Pathetic, disgusting and shameful" were just some of the words used as early as 1968 to describe the situation at Tiguak.

Joe Murphy wrote about it in his column for the Guam Daily News, after receiving phone calls and personal visits from people who had attended a burial at Tiguak and found the condition of the cemetery intolerable. 

Since the cemetery was not maintained, reaching a burial plot meant walking through overgrown weeds, with sticker burrs all over your pants and socks. Pall bearers had to carefully step over loose boards lying all around. 

"No one cried until they saw the cemetery," one person said, who had attended the funeral at Tiguak. Guam was no place to die, they said, unless you could get buried at one of the religious cemeteries.

DECADES OF MINIMAL MANAGEMENT

THE FAMOUS HORSE GRAVESTONE AT TIGUAK

The only thing, apparently, that has changed at Tiguak since the first complaints in 1968 has been the increase of burials.

Because it is Guam's most affordable burial place, Tiguak has filled to over 4000 burials. Pigo Cemetery, Guam's largest Catholic cemetery, is still the most populated on Guam, with over 8000 burials. Guam Memorial Park in Leyang, a private business, is fast approaching with over 7000 burials.

Due to the large number of burials, graves are often very close to each other. Families freely augment the graves anyway they feel like it, recently creating controversy when a life-sized white horse was built on a grave. Weeds and debris are everywhere, and there are no paved roads nor parking lots inside the cemetery. The cemetery has also been a favorite dumping ground for illegal dumping.

Responsibility for the cemetery, considered a headache to handle by many, shifted from Public Health to Public Works to Parks and Recreation.

In the 1980s, the cemetery was named the Vicente A. Limtiaco Memorial Park, in honor of the long-time Commissioner (Mayor) of Piti.

Already in 1988, former Senator Ben Ada was saying that the problem wasn't the need for more cemetery land, but the need to fund and properly maintain the cemetery.

STEALING PORK

 

In March of 1928, Antonio Concepción Pérez from Sumay killed a pig and hung it up to dry, after cleaning it, in his kitchen, which was a separate structure by his house. The pig was to be cooked to feed the men helping him reroof his house. In those days, when most homes had thatched roofs, people joined together to replace the old leaves with new ones. Some people wove, some people threw the fronds up to others who were fastening the new fronds to the roof. Women generally did the cooking to feed the workers.

In those days, people often left their doors unlocked, and that night Antonio did just that. He went to bed without locking the kitchen door. His wife, Ana Rivera Babauta, discovered in the morning that some of the pork had been cut away during the night. Taken away were part of the pig's belly and its hind legs. An estimated 50 pounds of meat had been stolen.

Antonio tried to find out who could have stolen the meat. A woman named Rita happened to notice that a certain José had pork in his house, and Rita asked José's sister how did her brother get the meat. She said José had bought it from Antonio. Now Antonio had a suspect, and he reported it to the Sumay Commissioner (what we call Mayor now), Joaquín Cruz Díaz.

Díaz questioned José, but José denied stealing the pork. José said, at the time Antonio's pork went missing, he had been at his ranch in Chalan Taipilan, an area in the vicinity of Sumay, to look after a sick pig of his. He found the pig dead and cut it up. A witness, Pedro Taitano Santos, testified that he was with José the day after José said he was at his ranch, cutting up the dead pig, and that José was sleepy, and that José explained he was sleepy because he was up all night cutting his dead pig.

PREWAR SUMAY

HE PLEADS GUILTY

And then, just like that, José admitted his guilt before the court.

He was sentenced to four months' imprisonment and to pay Antonio for the stolen pork.

We do not know what induced José to change his mind. Did he think it would just be a matter of time that some evidence is discovered or some witness come forward?

Could it have been a troubled conscience?

It's noteworthy that a good number of accused on Guam before the war plead guilty when brought before the court, for a number of different crimes.

Perhaps people, being more religious before the war, had a stronger conscience. They might be criminals, but they were honest about it.

WASHERWOMAN'S STORY

 

Lavandera

by Fernando Amorsolo

As told to me by a grand daughter....

"My grandmother was married shortly before the war, but her husband was killed by the Japanese in March of 1944. A lot of people were being killed, or went missing or were simply beat up by the Japanese because the Americans were already bombing the island. The Japanese were in a hurry to build airstrips and shelters and everything else, and they were so afraid of the Chamorros, that they would help the Americans. So if anyone was late for work or didn't show up, or acted suspiciously or disobeyed the Japanese, you could get killed."

"Grandma had two children already when her husband was killed. They were just 3 years old and 1 year old."

"When the Americans came back, grandma needed to earn money to take care of her two children. The military had built a laundry facility on the outskirts of the village and grandma was hired to wash clothes for the US military. There were around 10 or 12 soldiers stationed in the village. They were supposed to stay in their area but since grandma washed clothes for them they came to the laundry facility, which was on the border between the civilian area and where the soldiers could be."

"One day an American soldier came to the laundry facility. Grandma was ironing and the American started talking to her. Nobody was around. The American came up to grandma and held her by her waist. She tried to shrug him off but he wouldn't let go, and he was big and grandma was small. At one point he threw her down and she started yelling. I guess the guy was afraid her yelling was going to bring people over, so he hurried even faster. He took down his pants and grandma was still holding the charcoal iron and she slammed it on his dågan (buttocks). The American screamed and got up and ran off."

"Grandma went straight to the Commissioner and reported what happened. The Commissioner went right away to the military commander. Grandma kept telling them, 'Look for the man with burn marks on his dågan.' The commander and the Commissioner rounded up 5 Chamorro men to look for the 10 or so American soldiers in the area, who were at different locations doing different work at that moment. One by one they told the soldiers to lower their trousers and reveal their rears. They saw nothing but, when they counted the soldiers, there was one missing. I guess the guy tried to avoid being seen but he knew he couldn't run forever. He came back to the tent and his dågan showed the figure of a pointy iron, all in red."

"My grandpa was one of the five Chamorro men rounded up to look for the American soldiers. So he knew what happened to grandma, and it was that that made a big impression on him. He saw that grandma was a strong woman and she could defend herself. She was courageous. My grandpa couldn't stop thinking about grandma and decided to marry her. He knew he couldn't court her like a first-time bride. She already had two children."

"Instead, grandpa went to grandma's father and said, 'I love your daughter and I will adopt those two children of hers and raise them as my own flesh and blood.'" Grandma's dad was cautious but favorable. Grandpa showed how industrious he was, always working at whatever the military or the Commissioner hired him to do, and he saved every penny. In time, grandpa built a wood and tin roof house and used the front portion as a store. Grandma's father was impressed. So was grandma. The two of them married, and had kids of their own."

AN OBSERVATION

This Barrigada village sign in 1945 reminds American servicemen that the village is out of bounds unless they had a permit.

This story reminds us of the fact that, after the war, the US Military had to keep the soldiers and the civilian population at some distance from each other. Every village had a sign telling soldiers it was off-limits to them. This was to avoid things that happened to Chamorro women, but also to prevent fights and drunken brawls and the like, between Chamorros and military men, and sometimes between the American soldiers themselves. Even the American Catholic missionary priests needed permits to move from one village to another.

An American writes in 1945 that the native villages are out of bounds on Guam.

HINENGGEN MAN ÅMKO' : I ABABBANG

 

YANGGEN ÅTTILONG NA ABABBANG HUMÅLOM GI GIMA', GUAHA GI FAMILIA PARA U MÅTAI.

If a black butterfly enters the home, there is someone in the family who will die.

Some mañaina (elders) believed that if a black butterfly fluttered around inside the house, it meant that someone in the family would be dying in the near future. It was a harbinger of death.

The butterfly had to be black or predominantly black.

YANGGEN OTRO NA KOLOT, GUAHA HÅYE NI ESTA MÅTAI MANBISISITA.

If it's another color, some already dead is visiting.

But if the butterfly was of different colors, or mainly of colors other than black, and it flew into the house, it meant someone who had already died some time ago was visiting.

People would say a prayer for the dead when they saw a butterfly (other than a black one) fly into the house.

ALABADO SEA

 

The Chamorro hymn U MA GEF TUNA, which is usually sung at the end of all devotions, is based on a Spanish hymn titled ALABADO SEA.

The hymn honors the Blessed Sacrament and the Immaculate Conception. The Blessed Sacrament means the True Body of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception refers to the fact that God prevented Original Sin from touching Mary from the very first moment of her existence or conception in the womb of her mother Saint Ann.

All of this was taught to our mañaina (elders) hundreds of years ago by the Spanish missionaries. Prayers and hymns were taught to them in Chamorro but also in Spanish. In Saipan, they still sing this hymn in the original Spanish, as well as in Chamorro.

Here is a Saipan family singing it at the end of their Christmas novena :

LYRICS

Alabado sea el Santísimo Sacramento del altar

(Praised be the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar)

y la Inmaculada Concepción de la Virgen María, madre de Dios

(and the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, mother of God)

concebida sin mancha del pecado original

(conceived without the stain of original sin)

y en el primer instante de su ser por siempre jamás. Amén.

(and in the first moment of her existence and forever. Amen.)

Here's the musical notation 

The little boy in the video is folding his hands while the Alabado is being sung. This was the custom whenever the Alabado or Umageftuna was sung, and we had to sing it on our knees, too.

VERSIÓN ESPAÑOLA

por Manuel Rodríguez

El himno chamorro U MA GEF TUNA, que suele cantarse al final de todas las devociones, se basa en un himno español titulado ALABADO SEA.

El himno honra al Santísimo Sacramento y a la Inmaculada Concepción. El Santísimo Sacramento significa el Cuerpo Verdadero de Jesús y la Inmaculada Concepción se refiere a que Dios impidió que el Pecado Original tocara a María desde el primer momento de su existencia o concepción en el vientre de su madre, Santa Ana.

Todo esto fue enseñado a nuestros mañaina (ancianos) hace cientos de años por los misioneros españoles. Se les enseñaron oraciones e himnos en chamorro, pero también en español. En Saipán, todavía cantan este himno en el español original, así como en chamorro.

Aquí está una familia de Saipán cantándolo al final de su novena de Navidad.

HINENGGEN I MAN ÅMKO' : MEAT ON LENTEN FRIDAYS

 

Yanggen chumocho hao kåtne an Kuaresma na Bietnes, siempre ma hågga' i katne.

If you eat meat on a Lenten Friday, the meat will surely turn bloody.

Well, that's what some mañaina (elders) told us to scare us when we were tempted to break the rules of Lent and eat meat on a Friday in Lent.

Even though the rule applied to only those 14 years old and up, most parents and grandparents applied the rule even to the small children!

Well who wants a mouthful of blood?

So the threat that the meat, no matter how well-cooked it was, will fill your mouth with blood was enough to scare some children from eating meat on a Lenten Friday.

ESTORIAN MARIA REAGAN

 

THE CHAPEL

A Catholic chapel stands in Chalan Laulau in Saipan, and it's all due to the strong faith of a Carolinian woman with an unusual name. She was Maria Reagan. Maria was Carolinian, but her surname Reagan was not. It's Irish.

John Edward Reagan was an American from New York who somehow ended up in Saipan in the 1880s. He probably came on a whaler or perhaps a commercial vessel. We don't know if John Edward was born in New York or in Ireland, but he was certainly of Irish blood.

He, like a few other Caucasians, liked what he saw in Saipan and stayed, marrying a Carolinian woman named Joaquina Kileleman. Their first child, a daughter named Engracia, was born in 1889. María and other offspring came later.

SPANISH PRIEST FR ANICETO IBÁÑEZ

teaching Carolinian children the Catholic religion

Saipan was still under the Spaniards then, and the Catholic faith the only religion publicly allowed. But no one was forced to convert to Catholicism. Many Carolinians embraced the faith, and little by little everyone eventually became Catholic. Joaquina, by her first name alone, shows that she had been baptized and given a Christian name, and was Catholic.

A descendant of John Edward Reagan, Malua Peter, shares how devout Maria Reagan was.

Here is a summary in English of what Malua shared :

Tan Maria is the sister of Malua's grandmother. She was the daughter of Edward Reagan and she had very fair skin. Before the war, the family would walk from Chalan Kanoa to Chalan Laulau and pray the rosary every day. This continued after the war. Then we built a chapel there in Chalan Laulau. Right after the war there were only two churches, Chalan Kanoa and Tanapag. From 2 o'clock in the morning we wake up and we pack our things and we walk to the church. We sleep outdoors on canvas that we spread out on the ground and wait for whatever priest will come along to say Mass around 4 o'clock. Some weekends we walk to Tapochao. We also had special Masses for Holy Week. Tan Maria taught us about our obligations to God, to always pray. We began to pray the rosary in Chalan Laulau, first to Our Lady of Fatima and then it changed to the Immaculate Conception. The story's not so clear but Tan Maria saw something in the chapel and that's why we changed it to the Immaculate Conception. 

Tan Maria was very devoted to the Blessed Mother. You only saw her face and her hands because she always covered her head with a shawl or veil. She wore the brown Franciscan garment and the koreas (blessed leather belt of the Augustinians). 

She grew corn and she would share it with the family and we would eat it off the cob. 

When we were kids, we had English comics. They probably came from her father's family in the US. 

Tan Maria would take me to the dentist in Chalan Kanoa and tell me stories of the Blessed Mother as we walked. 

This chapel in Chalan Laulau (Limeiyóól) in Saipan is part of the legacy Tan María gave her family

THE TIDY TAOTAOMO'NA

 

Siempre hao nina'manman yanggen un li'e' este na lugåt annai guaha siha åcho' latte.

(You will certainly be amazed if you see this place where there are latte stones.)

Man gaige siha gi apattao na lugåt, tåya' guma', tåya' chålan. Mappot ma hanaogue este na lugåt.

(They are in an isolated place, no homes, no streets. It's a difficult place to get to.)

Puro ha' nette, chå'guan yan trongko siha gi uriya.

(It's all swordgrass, grass and trees in the surrounding area.)

Lao ti un fañodda' chå'guan annai man gaige i acho' latte. Man måtai ha' i cha'guan annai man gaige i acho' latte.

(But you won't find grass where the latte stones are. The grass is simply dead where the latte stones are.)

Ya ti siña un ålok na sa' pot guaha taotao man måtto ya man ma gatcha' i cha'guan na man måtai, sa' håssan taotao guihe na lugåt.

(And you can't say that it's because people go there and step on the grass that it's dead, because few people go to that place.)

I taotaomo'na ha' muna' taiguennao.

(It's the taotaomo'na who make it that way.)

So it was said to me by an old-timer about a certain location which I won't disclose, so that the latte stones there may be preserved in its current state.

The traditional Chamorro belief is to avoid latte sites anyway.

The taotaomo'na live around latte stones, and it's best not to irritate the taotaomo'na by bad behavior, and only God knows what a certain taotaomo'na might consider bad behavior, so better to avoid the place completely. An upset taotaomo'na will make you sick or at least bruise you. Yelling, urinating and physically disturbing the place are all obviously bad behavior, but some have been punished by taotaomo'na for less than these, and some people claim they were extremely careful and yet were still punished.

Some people may look at the place and come up with a natural explanation for the dry and lifeless ground immediately surrounding the latte stones. Perhaps the tree cover blocks out the sun.

But, upon seeing the place, I must say enough sun and rain water could make the ground more grassy and green.

But you will never convince the old-timer I talked to that it's anything other than the taotaomo'na who keep the area immediately around "their" latte stones clear of tall grass. The taotaomo'na here like to be tidy.

Perhaps the taotaomo'na want a big enough clear space so they can meet and even have their dances, as has been claimed by some people long ago.

CAPITOL HILL CEMETERY

 

CAPITOL HILL "WIRELESS RIDGE" CEMETERY

In some countries where, in the past, almost everybody was Catholic, there are Non-Catholic Cemeteries set up to accommodate non-Catholics, usually people who are not native to the place. Rome has a famous Cimitero Acattolico, which literally means "Non-Catholic Cemetery," where some famous people like John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poets, are buried. There are so many British and Protestant people buried there that the cemetery is often called the English Cemetery or the Protestant Cemetery, but Non-Catholic Cemetery is more accurate as there are a good number of Russians, Germans and many other nationalities, even Italians, buried here. And not just Protestants but Orthodox as well.

Keats and Shelley were Protestant, not Catholic, and, in those days, non-Catholics and even Catholics who committed suicide or who otherwise lived in public sin could not be buried in the Catholic cemetery proper, but only outside it, where the ground was not consecrated.

Saipan was a place where everybody, at one time, was Catholic, at least among its native population. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s it had no other cemeteries but the ones for Catholics.

So what was someone to do if one died in Saipan but was not Catholic?

This was Mike Marcus' situation in 1975. Marcus, a Chuukese Protestant and Saipan's safety officer at the time, was trying to bury his infant daughter on Saipan, and could only do so "outside the fence" at the Catholic cemetery. He did so, but began prompting government officials to look for a site in Saipan suitable for a public cemetery where anybody could be buried, regardless of religious affiliation.

WIRELESS RIDGE

The area selected was a far, isolated spot north of Capitol Hill called Wireless Ridge by the Americans after the war.

There are just a little over 100 graves at Wireless Cemetery today. If Marcus' daughter was buried there, either the grave can't be found anymore or her remains were moved. The oldest death we can tell from the grave stones was in 1975; someone named Kim An Montenero.

As can be expected, the cemetery has a good number of Koreans, Chinese and Micronesians from various parts of that region. There are fewer numbers of Statesiders and Filipinos. There are Protestant Christians and non-Christian Buddhists and at least one Jew.

DIFFERENT ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS AND RELIGIONS

There is at least one Chamorro we know of buried here, which is unusual given that most Chamorros are Catholic, but we're not sure why she is buried here. There could be a few other Chamorros buried here, but I'm not totally sure yet if they are Chamorro. If the surname is Spanish, the deceased could be some other race. It's also possible the deceased with a Chamorro name had been married to one but is not Chamorro herself.

Due to the fact that many of those buried here have few, and some no family at all, on Saipan, many of the graves are not cared for. Mother Nature has taken over a lot of the cemetery, with the grass so tall that it hides many of the graves. Many of the grave stones are no longer legible or lack signage completely. A few graves are reduced to just a small percentage of the cement that used to be there, and one cement grave is partially open.

Hillside fires, sometimes due to the heat of the dry season and sometimes due to deer hunters setting fires to scare the deer, typhoons and just the passing of time exposed to sun and rain have taken their toll on many of the graves. It's certain that some graves are now completely unseen. 

When you first drive into the cemetery, it appears to be rather small, but that's only because the tall grass and some of the tall trees obscure your vision. The cemetery is actually a good size, and goes all the way to the edge of the cliff. It has a great view of Mañagaha Island.

There was talk of closing this cemetery so that a larger, better-located public cemetery for Saipan can be opened, and the graves at Wireless transferred to the new one. But the new one has yet to be built, so Wireless continues till this day.

PEACEFUL PULANTAT

 

The people of Pulantat are so very content to live there and they have all the reasons for being so. Except for the occasional flooding during heavy rains or typhoons, Pulantat is quiet and surrounded by nature. It breathes "family" and the people wouldn't have it any other way. The people are sure to add "Pulantat" to "Yoña" when they inform you where they're from.

Having gone to elementary school from 1st to 6th grades at Saint Francis School in Yoña, I've heard about Pulantat from a very young age. Classmates came from Pulantat but I never ventured into this area of Yoña till I was much older.

I thought it had a reputation for roughness, but I'm told it's far from that. A local resident told me, "Pulantat is quiet. There's another neighborhood in Yoña where rougher guys live and if they come to Pulantat looking for a fight, they'll find it and they will lose. They always lose because you don't just fight 2 or 3 guys in Pulantat. The whole family comes out to settle things."

FAMILY

FORMER SENATOR AND YOÑA MAYOR JOSÉ "PEDO" TERLAJE AND FAMILY

Pulantat resident his whole life

Residents of Pulantat have a strong sense of family being rooted in the area. Over the years, others have moved in, but the older families associated with Pulantat are still well-known.

In the 1950 Census, the largest clans living in Pulantat at that time were the Toves and Terlaje (Cha'ka/Pedo) families, and there are some blood connections between these two families, as well. There were also Pulantat residents named Baza, Cruz, Pangelinan, Ogo, Quitaro, Tenorio and Sablan in the 1950 Census.

The Camacho (Trabuko), Cruz (Kúkuri), Pocaigue (Pokiki), Cruz (Dulili) and Tenorio (Labucho) families are also associated with Pulantat, and there are a number of other families, as well.

In fact, a man who only recently moved to Pulantat told me that even though the street he lives on is practically all people from the same family, they have accepted him and his wife and children as members of the community on that street. "Pulantat is a place I'd want my children to grow up in. My kids can run to the neighbors' houses to play. In Pulantat there are big lawns and back yards. We are surrounded by nature. And everyone on the street looks out for each other. When we see a car we don't recognize, we keep an eye out."

Another long-time resident told me, "People from here (Pulantat) who move to the States always know that they still have a home here they can come back to. Our roots here are permanent. If you're from Pulantat, you will never be homeless because you will always have a home to come back to here."

"People in Pulantat don't like to sell their land. They've already earmarked the land for their descendants," this man told me.

A definite draw for Pulantat in the old days was agriculture. "Back in the day, Pulantat was a place of abundance. They grew everything here. A lot of it wasn't even sold. The food was grown and the animals raised to supplement the family's income. Some of it was sold, but some of it was just given away. Shared with other families, or used to exchange one thing for another. Nowadays it's a lot less. Garden-type produce; papaya, cucumbers, beans (friholes), bananas."

FLOODING AND DUMPING

A CAR CAUGHT IN A FLOOD IN PULANTAT IN 2017

"It never fails," says a resident of Pulantat, whenever there is heavy rain.

"It's not every part of Pulantat, but if you're place is lying low, in a valley, you're going to get flooded. It doesn't take a typhoon to flood the place."

A PULANTAT HOME WAIST-HIGH IN WATER AFTER A TYPHOON 

"Other than the flooding, Pulantat is a great place to live. Thank God the flooding is just now and then."

There is one other drawback, though, and yet it doesn't hurt Pulantat residents except for the blight on the neighborhood scenery and the hassle of now having to deal with abandoned material on your property. The problem is illegal dumping, even of stolen cars.

"Pulantat is so out-of-the-way, and some parts can be very isolated, that outsiders take advantage of that and come dump their stuff here and there," one villager shared. "People find spots where they think no one will catch them, especially at night."

"NO DUMPING"

There is an area, just as you descend the hill into Pulantat, that was used as a dump site. It was an actual dump site used by the US Navy after the war. There is a fence now and it is pad locked, and the Mayor, it is said, is looking into permanently shutting down the dump site.

PULANTAT EARTH STATION

In 1969, Pulantat became the site of an RCA satellite earth station, capable of using telephone, television, telex, facsimile and high speed data communication technology. The site still functions as a satellite station but now for a different company.

SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS

When I was talking once with a Pulantat residence if it were true that many school bus drivers were from Pulantat, without hesitation he started to name them. "David Cruz, also known as 'Shorty.' From the Dulili family. Mike Camacho. Peter Elatico, but with him you have the Camacho family, too. And Pio Quidachay."

LATTE SITE

Little-known by the general public, and it's better that way, is the fact that Pulantat has a latte stone site, hidden away in the brush.

"It's not just latte stones," one Pulantat resident told me. "My kids will be playing in the back yard and come running to me that they found something." It doesn't take a lot of digging, he told me, to find pottery shards and smoothed stones. Pulantat is literally strewn with ancient Chamorro remains, as well as World War II artifacts, some of which could be dangerous.

TAOTAOMO'NA

Which lead me to ask some Pulantat people, "Is Pulantat full of taotaomo'na?"

One man replied, "They could be standing right next to you and me right now."

When I asked what specific areas of Pulantat are known for taotaomo'na, most people said the whole place can be their spot, and that everyone must be respectful everywhere in Pulantat. "Just be respectful and don't disturb the place and nothing bad will happen."

One resident, whose house is not far from a drop in the terrain leading down to Mañenggon said that the back side of his house is believed to be a taotaomo'na trail. "They use that path to go down to the river," he said. He tells his children to avoid that spot.

TENORIO TITIYAS FACTORY

A Pulantat family, the Tenorios or Labucho clan, make titiyas in their Pulantat facility. They are sold in stores all over the island.

So from titiyas to taotaomo'na, from satellites to school bus drivers, Pulantat has a lot of interesting things. But, above all, Pulantat has peace and that's the way its community wants it to remain.

FAMILIA : CARBULLIDO

THE FOUR CARBULLIDO SONS

Clockwise starting at top left : LUÍS, JOSÉ, SEBASTIÁN, JESÚS

The Carbullido family on Guam is a well-documented one. It is so well-documented that many in the family have a very good family tree worked out. But this blog post adds a few details which family researchers may not have access to.

From the Agat sacramental records, which cannot be open to the general public in order to respect the privacy of individuals and families, we know that the first Carbullido on Guam was a man named

ANDRÉS RODRÍGUEZ CARBULLIDO

He was Filipino and born around the year 1834. The best we can say is "around," because many people in those days didn't know their birthday (there was hardly any reason to know that in those days of little paper work, widespread illiteracy and simple farming life). Many people just guessed their ages and didn't even bother to check church records or get a certificate. There was little need for such things in the old days. Most people didn't even celebrate birthdays. There were no driver's licenses, voter registration or credit card applications.

Andrés was the son of EDUARDO CARBULLIDO and ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ.

The 1920 Guam Census states he was from Manila, and maybe he was, but I'd hold off on stating that as an absolute fact because those census takers in those days just relied on what the person claimed, and some people were casual with details. A person could have just said "Manila" when in fact they were from 50 miles away from Manila, but most people knew Manila, not the little town 50 miles away, so they said, "Manila."

For whatever reason, Andrés came to Guam, certainly by the 1850s (he would have been in his 20s) because his oldest child was born on Guam in the 1850s. Some Filipinos appear on lists of deportees, sent to the Marianas in exile for crimes or for anti-Spanish political activities. Andrés doesn't appear on any such lists, just as many Filipinos who moved to Guam in the 1800s do not appear on deportation lists and came to Guam for other reasons, of which we know little or nothing.

When Andrés came to Guam, at some point he married the Chamorro JOSEFA DE LEÓN GUERRERO BLANCO from Hagåtña, the daughter of Martín Blanco and Marta de León Guerrero. But Andrés made his home in Hågat. Whether he met Josefa in Hågat or Hagåtña we don't know as we do not have their marriage record, but their children were all born in Hågat so I would put my money on Josefa having moved to Hågat already and having met Andrés there. Other Blancos, originally from Hagåtña, had also moved to Hågat in the mid 1800s.

ANDRÉS and JOSEFA had sons and daughters, but it was the sons, of course, who continued handing down the Carbullido name to their children. The Carbullidos multiplied and now number so many hundreds of people that I will keep things simple in this blog post an focus on just the four sons, from whom all the rest are descended. Most people know their grandparents and even great grandparents, but less know about the older generations so I will stick with them.

The four sons were LUÍS, JOSÉ, JESÚS and SEBASTIÁN.

CARBULLIDO-CHARFAUROS

LUÍS BLANCO CARBULLIDO, born around 1859. He married MANUELA CHARFAUROS the daughter of Pilar Charfauros. Manuela and her mother Pilar are found in the 1897 Guam Census, and Pilar is stated to be a widow, but her late husband's name is not mentioned (quite naturally as a census if of living people, not the deceased). Most records state that Manuela was the daughter of Pilar, with no father stated. One record states that Manuela's father was Luís Charfauros, about whom I cannot find any other documentation. Remember Spanish women keep their birth names even when they marry. So if Pilar is named Charfauros, that's her birth name, even if she later married a man with the same last name. 

But most documents state that Manuela Charfauros was the daughter of Pilar Charfauros, with no father stated. For now, I am more comfortable sticking to what is most clear; that Manuela Charfauros was the daughter of Pilar Charfauros. This Luís Charfauros needs more documentation for me to be more confident who he was in relation to Manuela Charfauros and that he was even married to Pilar at all.

Luís Carbullido and Manuela Charfauros had many daughters, but also at least two sons, Vicente and Joaquín. Vicente had one son, Francisco Arceo Carbullido who had many children, but Joaquín had all daughters.

CARBULLIDO-MANIBUSAN

JOSÉ BLANCO CARBULLIDO, born around 1865. He married ANA DELGADO MANIBUSAN, the daughter of Ignacio Manibusan and María Delgado. José was not as prolific as his brothers and had a few daughters and one son, Ignacio, who was still single at age 30 and apparently never married nor sired children.

CARBULLIDO-PANGELINAN

This is the branch of Carbullidos that produced the largest number of male descendants.

JESÚS BLANCO CARBULLIDO, born around 1870, married ENRIQUETA BORJA PANGELINAN, the daughter of Juan Pangelinan and María Borja. Juan Pangelinan was better known as Juan Kotla. Jesús and Enriqueta had five sons, besides their daughters : Antonio, Félix, Juan, Baltazar and Joaquín and many descendants from them.

CARBULLIDO-MUÑA

SEBASTIÁN BLANCO CARBULLIDO, born around 1877, married LUISA DUEÑAS MUÑA, the daughter of Vicente Muña and Cornelia Dueñas. Among their children, at least two sons had children : José and Francisco.

THE DAUGHTERS

Andrés and Josefa had four daughters as well, who all got married so their children carried their father's last names. The daughters were ANA, who married Juan Santos; FELISA, who married Juan Cruz Terlaje; MARÍA, who married José Delgado Manibusan; and TRINIDAD, who married Luís SN Aguigui (familian Taibas).

THE LADRES/LADRESS MISTAKE

Many Carbullido family trees make the mistake of calling Andrés ANDRÉS RODRÍGUEZ LADRES/LADRESS CARBULLIDO. Many even believe that Andrés' mother's maiden last name was LADRES. But LADRES is not found in any of the documents of the time in which they lived. It only shows up in modern family trees. LADRES is obviously someone's clerical error, based on the first name ANDRÉS. Then the next person just accepts the first person's error as accurate and puts it in the next family tree, and on it goes, the error is passed on to the next person. 

Some don't even know what to do, now, with the Rodríguez. Does it come before or after Ladres? So some do it one way, and some do it the other way. One even put Rodríguez in parentheses - "Rodríguez" - as if Andrés was not really a Rodríguez.

You can see how easy it is for one person to make a mistake, and even the mistake is mistakenly repeated. They don't all spell LADRES the same way! In any case, Andrés was ANDRÉS RODRÍGUEZ CARBULLIDO, no more, no less, not even Ladress. The sacramental records written at the time are clear.

1909 HÅGAT PETITION

That the Carbullido clan had standing in the Hågat community is shown in more than one way, including this 1909 Petition by leaders of the village to keep their Spanish priest (at the time threatened with being replaced by a German priest). Three of the four Carbullido brothers signed the petition; José, Luís and Jesús.

Luís, in fact, was gobernadorcillo of Hågat for awhile during the Spanish administration, a position that was like a village mayor at the time.

WELL-KNOWN CARBULLIDOS

Carbullidos continued to be in leadership in Hågat in modern times. 

Jesús Blanco Carbullido was Assistant Commissioner of Hågat in the early 1900s under the Americans. "Commissioner" is what village mayors were called back then.

Antonio Pangelinan Carbullido was Hågat Commissioner both before and after the war.

His son Albert Taitano Carbullido was well-known in his day as a Government of Guam director/chief of various departments, one of his best known being head of the Guam Election Commission. Prior to his civic life, Albert was on Canton Island working for Pan American Airways when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He then enlisted in the US Navy and served in the war.

Albert's brother Felix Taitano Carbullido was a member of the 2nd and 3rd Guam Legislatures, a founder of the Territorial Party and engaged in the insurance business on Guam.

Antonio's brother Baltazar Pangelinan Carbullido became an educator and civic leader, being a teacher, school principal, member of the Guam Legislature, businessman and active in several island associations. The elementary school in Barrigada is named after him (BP Carbullido Elementary School).

Their nephew Francisco Chaco Carbullido had the distinction of being one of the Wake Island Defenders at the beginning of World War II. He was made a Prisoner of War by the Japanese and sent to China and Japan until war's end.

Francisco's son F. Philip Carbullido is Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court.

ALL CARBULLIDOS

Clockwise starting at top left : Baltazar, Albert, Francisco and F. Philip

FORMER SENATOR FELIX TAITANO CARBULLIDO

THE CARBULLIDO NAME

One question that has nagged some members of the Carbullido family is the origin of the name itself.

As we know, Andrés, the founder of the Guam clan, was from the Philippines. And, yet, there are virtually no Carbullidos in the Philippines.

There, are, however people with surnames very close in spelling to Carbullido in both the Philippines and Spain with just one letter being different. We can thus assume, and with some confidence, that Carbullido is just a variation of the original Spanish name and, since spelling was so casual and inconsistent in the old days, the name was spelled Carbullido on Guam.

That original Spanish name is CARBALLIDO.

THE TOWNS OF CARBALLIDO IN SPAIN

There are two tiny villages in Spain called Carballido, but they are in the same area. In fact, they are just 15 miles apart, give or take.

To distinguish the two towns with the same name, the village patron's name is attached. One is San Martiño de Carballido and the other is Santa María de Carballido. They are both in the Province of Lugo in the region of Galicia in Spain and they are both tiny. Neither village has more than 50 inhabitants. In fact, the villages are disappearing as only old people live there and their grandchildren have moved to bigger towns and cities.

The towns of Carballido in Spain lie in a region of Spain called Galicia, at the northwestern corner of the country.

In fact, a Chamorro Carbullido was attending some event in the US mainland and, in the elevator, a Spaniard said to him, "I know where your name comes from!" and told him about the little village of Carballido in Spain.

FROM VILLAGE NAME TO FAMILY NAME

Marga, pictuted above, is one of 1,752 people (since the last statistics) with the last name Carballido in Spain. Most of the people named Carballido in Spain come from Galicia, the region where the towns called Carballido are located.

As people began to choose family names for themselves, many chose the names of the towns, cities and villages they were from. We have many of them in Spanish and from them the Chamorros as well. Sigüenza, Tudela, Borja, Baza, and Benavente are names of towns in Spain.

And what does Carballido mean?

The name Carballido is related to many other names that came from the same roots, especially the name Carballo or Carvallo, which is even more popular in Spain and Latin America. The word means "a place full of oak trees."

A CHANGE OF ONE LETTER

IT'S CARBELLIDO IN THE PHILIPPINES

And then, when the Spaniards conquer the Philippines, we now see a name Carbellido, with just one letter changed from Carballido. You don't find any Carbullidos, even though Andrés was from there.

People didn't have the same fixation with EXACT SPELLING as we have today. Small differences didn't bother them. Even Juan de la Cruz sometimes wrote his name : JUAN CRUZ or JUAN DE LA CRUS. It didn't bother anyone. They knew who he was no matter the small difference in spelling.

The name LIZAMA, for example, is originally LEZAMA, a village in Spain. But on Guam people, even the Spanish priests, spelled it LIZAMA. No big deal to them. Chamorros spell it PANGELINAN, but Filipinos spell it PANGILINAN, and the PANGELINANS on the Marianas trace their ancestry to the PANGILINANS of Pampanga, the Philippines. No big deal. Some Chamorros of the past spelled it TOVEZ, and other spelled it TOVES, because in the Spanish spoken in the Marianas, S and Z sound the same.

Even today, John is spelled Jhon, Jon, Dzon, Djon and many other ways because people like variety or to be different. Exact, uniform spelling is not everyone's concern.

In the Philippines, there are today 642 people named CARBELLIDO. I wouldn't be surprised if Andrés Carbullido is from this same family many years ago, just spelled with a one-letter difference.