Remembering Angel Santos
Thursday, 16 April 2009 03:16 by Zita Y. Taitano | Variety News Staff
THERE may be no official ceremony to mark the 50th birthday of the late senator Angel Santos, but those who remember his contributions to Guam lit candles to honor the man who fought for the Chamorro people’s rights.The late stone park in Hagatna was named in honor of the late senator Angel Santos, who was known as an advocate of Chamorro rights and credited for the creation of the Chamorro Land Trust Commission.photos by Zita Y. Taitano
Surviving family members, relatives, friends, supporters and activists gathered at the Angel Santos Latte Stone Park in Hagatna on Tuesday night to pay tribute to the late senator, who passed away in July 2003 at the age of 44.
Among the coordinators of the ceremony was Jonathan Diaz, of Nasion Chamorro, who said that the main people responsible for the event were the Santos family.
Diaz said the family traditionally held a ceremony to commemorate Diaz’s death, but this year they decided to pay homage to him on his birthday, April 14.
Tuesday night’s vigil attracted more than 200 people, most of whom knew Santos not only as a leader, but as a friend.
“People are still mourning their leader’s death. When we look back, we realize that he was radical in a sense,” said Diaz.
Paraphrasing a speech that Santos delivered years ago, Diaz said the community “cannot be passive nor silent and that the government should stand in defense of its people.”
“Let’s help our people. Please stand and make it work. Nobody’s Angel Santos. I think he would stand for the plight of our people,” Diaz said.
Santos was credited for the creation of the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, which is currently facing challenges.
Activist Debbie Quinata said if “Anghet were alive, the situation with Chamorro land trust would not have taken place.”Family members light candles at the Angel Santos Latte Stone Park in Hagatna on Tuesday night to pay tribute to the late senator.photos by Zita Y. Taitano
“He would’ve watched it closely and would’ve been in compliance with the law,” said Quinata. “I think that when we lost Angel we lost a man of compassion and a man of integrity and its’ a very big loss for the Chamorro people of Guam.”
She recalled that Santos was not easily intimated and that he questioned authority in the proper manner.
“We lost a great leader and its’ sad for the upcoming generation,” Quinata said. “But I think his contributions will never be forgotten. He taught the responsibility of standing for what’s right.”
She said Santos stood out from the rest because of his honesty and integrity.
20 comments:
lame, lame, lame. guam has been someone else's bitch for hundreds of years.
there's nobody from guam who is 100% pure chamorru so get over it. you're owned by new masters now...and you're free.
free to get fat and think you actually mean something. can't wait to see you become the 51st start on old glory.
si yuus maasse
Please... Angel Santos did the people of Guam a favor by dying. He was a racist, and fought for the rights of a single ethnicity with no legal ties to disputed lands other than painted coconut trees.
Fortunately, this is coming from the thoughts of a so-called "Chamorro". At least a few of us have some sense to see the irrationality of Angel's opinions - glad he never made it in the gubernatorial!
Long live America, for she shall reign over us forever and ever.
The previous comment, particularly the last sentence, reminded me of the following passage:
"There was a time under the old monarchy when the French experienced a sort of joy in surrendering themselves irrevocably to the arbitrary will of their monarch and said with pride: 'We live under the most powerful king in the world.'"
-- Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in America"
Seems like there are some folks like that on Guam too.
Why don't you stop being a little bitch and say who you are anonymous. Why don't you make sense by saying your name. Fucken fag. Little punk hiding behind a fucken computer. Haha.
Oh yeah. If you love your country so much you should go fucken fight in Iraq. All talk but no action. Fucken side-line patriot. Haha.
It's very sad to see the comments left in this forum about Angel Santos.
Angel is not only a friend, but a very close cousin of mine.
All this trash about Angel is a bunch of nonsense coming from a coward who claims to know what Guam is all about.
I'm not going to allow you to upset me or frustrate me. What I will say is this....you better make damn sure that you don't run your mouth and let us know who you are. If you do, it'll be payday for you and this is not a threat but a promise. You're a coward for saying all these things but hiding behind a screen name. Anytime chelu, anytime
Jesse Bautista Camacho
Mongmong Village
jcamacho12000@yahoo.com
Hey openminded, the only thing you're showing us in here is how ignorant you are. Take your ignorance somewhere else because we definitely don't need it on Guam. You know who i am so show your true colors.
Jesse Bautista Camacho
Mongmong Village
jcamacho12000@yahoo.com
Two comments were removed because there was no point to them other than to, in their own words, "piss on someone's grave."
The comments are open, but please say something constructive or interesting in them and save the name-calling and mindless attacks for some place else.
Anonymous, it's very sad and very low to say something like that knowing that his family may be reading this.
My advice to you is to make sure no one on the island ever finds out who you are. You don't know who you're toying with. This is not meant to be a threst but a promise to your ignorant comment.
Jesse Bautista Camacho
jcamacho12000@yahoo.com
jesse,you are a little bitch boy
My gutt feeling is that Anghet is my Classmate! What's wrong with admiring his knowledge?? instead of a body language of jealousy and tourmentations?? Give him credit!Enen that he's gone! Enao nai na man ma hutme hit ni Korean, sa i man taffo mi jo!! Studip, todo un liue jamooo dummy. Masaha mano na tenda, pur ha korean. Supporti esta ki ma patic i dagungomo para i tase you airheads!!Jamo Ma fagaga no?? ya mo dummy...Baba i calaberan me jo fan. BAba i matan me jo?? Todo man ma tulaika i custumbriata?? Kalabera!!
ok GUAM was never someones b**** . and angel santos was a great man i am a teenager of guam and don,t like u to talk about our people and island bad have some respect ANGEL SANTOS deserves it and how dare you call your self a chammoro
Election Fever: local Chamoru guy standing ahead of me at the grocery store chats me up, asking if I'm ready for the election and if I'm voting tomorrow.
Hard question to answer considering I'm still voting in the mainland election, it'll be 3 more months until I officially establish residency here anyways, and rather than gloat about voting in the Presidential Election (oh I was tempted) I just shrugged and said: "yeah."
"Hopefully things will change.." he offers, really stimulating the troll in me. I was tempted to underscore the insanity of saying that every election cycle and voting for either one bad side of the two-party system or the other, but I bite my tongue, and sigh: "yeah hopefully" knowing that at least here on Guam, nothing will change with the rise and fall of local democrats and republicans.
Politically, nothing has changed for Guam in the 17yrs I've been away and seeing what these red and blue political hacks have accomplished in that time only reaffirms my belief in their scam.
And the sight of all the signs and billboards with one fake smile after the other is nauseating. One estolls the virtue of responsibility and accountability, another says they'll create more jobs and issue more tax refunds, full well knowing they're so full of shit it's coming out both ears. Government doesn't create jobs, private sector creates jobs. Politicians are parasites, it's a rare sight to see one who does anything to improve their community that doesn't take from someone else's. But it's a racket, like the mob that's been going on in towns across 'Merica for longer than anyone can remember. Politicians don't change a damned thing, they don't improve their communities, they collect the paycheck, they help their friends and they let the people rot in hell.
"Well hopefully something good happens" the gentleman offers again, snapping me out of my train of thought.
I nod in agreement, and bid him good day as he takes his receipt, saying "At least they can start with taking down all those freakin' signs." and he laughs. And I start thinking about what the Chamoru Nation has been up to these days. Guam needs another Angel Santos.
Oh and if you're wondering, I voted for Gary Johnson. So did my wife, so did all my friends and family back home.
Your such a FOOL. Do your research and you'll find out that Guam has the most enlisted personnel in the military per capita !!!
Being both from the mainland and a descendent of native Americans (my great, great great grandfather fought the white men taking his people's land, I have an understanding of the lack of respect that native people often get. Angel and I had some long discussions on the subject. I respected him very much. Due to his insistence of the military giving back land to the original owners, and the fact that the expansion of the military on Guam has most likely been in the planning long before it was made public, I could see that there was a possibility that he might have been a thorn in the side of the DOD. His death, the cause of which is still controversial, was convenient for the DOD.
OMG! Today is April 11, 2015, 12 years after the fact, I just found out Angel Santos has died. Despite the negative things I've read here, I feel he was a wonderful man. He was my sponsor to Guam in 1981. He and his wife (at the time) and kids (lil Angel & lil Sis), took me on a tour of the island. He was also my boss at CBPO Andersen AFB, Guam. This week, I've found out that two of my Guam friends had died. Leslie Francisco (Barrigada Heights, 1994) and Angel. I saw a post on here from Jesse Camacho, I think I've met you through Angel or Leslie (if you were in MMS Squadron). Anyway, judging from the post I've read, people need to learn to forgive whatever differences you may have, especially in a time of death. Don't just remember the bad, but find it within yourself to remember the good in that person. I've always felt, Chamorros are some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life and I STILL think of Guam to this day, and how much I loved it there. And for the record, Guam has NEVER been anyone's BITCH!!! I was a beautiful place I once called home....if only for a year and a half. R.I.P Angel Santos. Signed an old friend....Kevin DeMartino, Baltimore, MD.
It is sad that some of you do not see how much your island is worth in the eyes of a few courageous individuals. It's people like Angel Santos that at least rang a buzzer that now many Guamanians are rising left and right talking about Guam being independent. No wonder why, there a saying that goes, In the midst of the micronesias, there's an island that have lost all of its culture and are now stealing from her neighbors... Look at your island, you are America's Bitch. You will never be the 51st as you are too small to be a state and too greedy to be anyone...
Try and give support to people like Ned Pablo. He reminds me so much of Angel Santos and he needs your support to voice all of us (Micronesians) to the Guam Legislature and on to US Congress. Unity is about us small islanders to get together and be a bigger nation. Be like Palau, we fought to be free from Micronesia and also USA. Even though we need US Security, we are our own bitch, but we need Guam, Saipan and FSM too as we feel that we are one in heart and thought.. So whadda ya all say we put Mr. Ned Pablo in the Senate? VIVA Micronesias!!!!!
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