Pinoys carve a nation in Guam
by MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN, (Contributor)
OFW Journalism Consortium, Inc.

GUAM — MANILA’S flea market has been transported here, literally, every Sunday. In Dededo, Guam, Filipinos have re-created Divisoria.

Left and right, traders in Dededo’s weekend flea market sells walis tambo (broom), tabo (ladel), and timba (pail) to Filipinos haggling for “in-the-Philippines” price. Diners feast on goto (rice broth), taho (sweet soy meal), and “adidas” (chicken feet) on makeshift stalls on sidewalks.

The voice of Filipino balladeer April Boy Regino blaring on a portable radio competes with gossiping groups and all the haggling. The scene is a reminder of Baclaran in Pasay City and Divisoria in Manila during brisk Sunday buying and selling.

Guam, 2,500 kilometers away, trade in Dededo has been a tradition as Filipinos have now numbered almost 40,000 in this 549-square kilometer island of the United States. Dededo, the most populated district in the northern part of the island, is known as “The Manila of Guam”.

“This is where I got married and raised my daughter. This is now my home,” said 64-year-old Miguel Lutero.

Indeed, to Lutero and many Filipinos on island, while Guam is home, they have carved it according to their being natives of island-group Philippines.

Lutero, for one, said he looks forward to breakfast at McDonald’s in Tamuning every morning. He passes the time there for hours, talking to fellow Filipinos his age and with the same ritual.

In jest, they call it McDonald’s “Country Club” for Filipino men. This “club” is strictly informal, with no roster and no set meeting. They simply hang out. This is a regular morning routine and a retirement activity for many elderly Filipino men, who have made Guam their permanent home.

“We talk about everything –business, families, old jobs, sometimes about our old life in the Philippines. We tell jokes among ourselves. We come here as early as 7 a.m. and stay until 10 a.m.,” Lutero said.

During this time, speakers on this McDonald’s branch play Filipino pop dance music like Otso-otso (eight-eight) and Ispageti (spaghetti). Lutero and his “club” members are focused in their gab and other non-Filipino diners appear not to mind the alien sound that seems like the restaurant’s national anthem.

It’s like not leaving the Philippines, one of Lutero’s friends said.

Looking back
According to the 2000 census, Filipinos living in Guam accounted for 25 percent of Guam’s population of 166,090. Some are descendants of Filipino political exiles who came to Guam over a century ago, the census cited.

However, the Philippine Consulate Office here neither has a document showing the number of Filipinos who are naturalized US citizens nor the number of green-card and work visa holders. Still, the consulate office has registered 17,000 Filipino citizens over the past five years. The figure is based on passport renewal.

But more than what the number represents, it is the presence of everything that reminds them of home that makes Filipinos consider Guam their home, Lutero said.

A native of Iloilo, Lutero came to Guam 38 years ago, as a contract worker for the Navy Exchange and had since worked different jobs until he retired two years ago. His wife, Lucrecia Sutacio, who also hailed from Iloilo, passed away in 1989, leaving him the sole responsibility to raise their daughter, who is now 33 and teaching at Untalan Elementary School.

Lutero, who got a US citizenship in 1989, said, the citizenship and oath of allegiance “don’t change who I am.”

“In my heart, I am a Filipino,” he added.

This feeling can be traced to the history that Guam and the Philippines share: both were seceded by Spaniards to the US in 1898.

Despite the “western” environment, we share history as well as the similarities and intermarriage of cultures between Guamanians and Filipinos, making it easy for Filipinos to adapt here, Lutero added.

Government has also been supportive of the adaptation.

Guam Gov. Felix P. Camacho dedicated his weekly radio address to Filipinos who celebrated the 107th Independence Day celebration last June.

“Today we stand with all Filipinos on Guam to celebrate the achievements of a people who contribute so much to our island,” Camacho said in his speech. “We reflect upon the past Century of their progress and all they have done for Guam as they built a nation of freedom-loving people. We also welcome a new era of prosperity for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines and our kababayans here at home.”

Camacho recognized Filipinos’ contributions to the local economy and the political landscape. Many Guam officials like him admit with pride that they are descendants of Filipinos.

Breaker
Settled between 3,500 to 5,000 years ago by the Chamorro people, Guam is also similar to the Philippines in that it hosts US bases. The Philippines, however, closed down the two US bases in Central Luzon more than a decade after the US withdrew its naval and air force personnel.

Guam also is generally warm and humid, with dry season from January to June, and rainy season from July to December. And, again like the Philippines, 85 percent of its people are Roman Catholic.

According to the Guam government website, its economy depends on US military spending, tourism, and the transporting of fish and handicraft exports.

Total US grants, wage payments, and procurement outlays amounted to $1 billion in 1998. Over the past 30 years, the tourism industry –one million visitors annually– has grown rapidly, creating a construction boom for new hotels and the expansion of older ones.
While Japanese, who make up 90 percent of tourists, have slowed down in their visits to Guam, Filipinos shuttle to and from this island to their native country.

Like Mehlanie Plante, who was born in Morong, Rizal, and brought to Guam by her parents when she was six months old. She went back to Manila in 1997 and stayed there until 2001 to finish her college.

She’s now back in Guam for good.

“The Philippines and Guam are both home to me. My grandmother and my father speak Tagalog at home so I still consider it my first language. I would say that I carry both cultures with me and I also want my daughter Liezel to grow up absorbing both cultures. Home is not where you are. Home is in your heart,” Plante said.

Another Filipino is Rody Ricarte, who was petitioned by his father to come to Guam 20 years ago. He was naturalized as a US citizen in 1985.

“My family is here so this is home. The location of one’s home is not really what matters. What matters is what you feel to be your home. So even though I am here on Guam, I still feel home. I feel Filipino,” Ricarte said. end