"We Need To Protect Our Lands So That We Have A Homeland"

Marianas Variety reports that as the Guam government and business sector are lobbying for an increased US military presence on Guam, others are taking an opposite track. Variety says, “…Chamorro activists for their part stepped up their anti-bases campaign, assailing government leaders for making a "unilateral decision" without consulting the people.

”It’s a shameful act on the part of our government officials to give away our lands when we have a growing number of homeless on Guam," Debbie Quinata, tribunal council member of I Nasion Chamorro, told the newspaper on the eve of the Guam delegates’ departure for Los Angeles to attend the Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRACC) hearing on July 14. "We were disappointed that the governor and the speaker would unilaterally make a decision on behalf of the people, who were cut off from the process. They did not ask anybody if we want this. They are using our lands as a bargaining chip, and for whom?" Quinata asked. Quinata says various groups on Guam have expressed their concerns about the military presence on Guam and the lack of concern about land issues.

Sen. Tony Unpingco, chairman of the legislative committee on military and veterans affairs, agreed saying that "It is important for people to be informed because it affects the entire island" and it involves ancestral lands that "...the military will or will not be using."

Guam’s Governor Felix P. Camacho no longer plans on requesting the return of excess military lands to original landowners when the Guam contingent meets with the BRACC later this month. The Guam governor has stated that now it not the right time to address the issue of ancestral land.

Others take issue with that. Patty Garrido, president of the Ancestral Landowners Coalition,for one says, "We are well aware that the United States will do what they will, irrespective of what we think and do here, such is our political status, or rather, non-status. And to add salt to our wounds, the governor is ‘not going to mention excess lands’... these lands that belong to families long awaiting their return... after 50 to 60 years, when will be the right time?" Garrido stated in a letter mass emailed to executive officials and senators.

Quinata told KUAM, "It seems to me that [Governor Camacho] is going to go to Washington misrepresent his people by maybe conveniently just not mentioning the very pressing issue of land returns.”

The business groups claim that the military presence is the key to growth. But here, too, there is opposition.

For example, The Colonized Chamorro Coalition is on record as saying that the island should not rely on the military for a development boost, but should instead focus on a mix of industries.

Quinata feels that the Guam Chamber of Commerce is not the best representatives of the island's people, calling them "an exclusive club, whose main objective is to enrich themselves."

Guam and its Chamorro people have been subjected to colonial domination by various countries for almost 500 years. Colonial conquest of the Chamorro people began with Spain in the early 16th century, followed by the U.S. takeover in 1898, the World War II invasion by Japan, and continues today as a U.S. "possession." Guam's fortunes and misfortunes are a consequence of its geographic location which various countries have exploited to advance their self-interest militarily, politically and economically.

"My concern always is for the enabling of our children," says Debbie Quinata, "We need to protect our lands so that we have a homeland that is a priority.” Sources: KUAM (Guam), Marianas Variety, Pacific Daily News, Totse.com, Cultural Survival