Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) may be recognized on the legislative day of Wednesday, September 22, 2010, to offer the resolution that he noticed on Thursday, September 16, 2010, without further notice under clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 2:30 p.m. on Monday next, and further, when the House adjourns on that day, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, for morning-hour debate.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor a woman of the Northern Mariana Islands for her enduring entrepreneurial spirit--Senora Escolastica Tudela Cabrera, more popularly known as ``Tan Esco.''

Born in 1930, Tan Esco grew up in difficult times during the Japanese administration and, as a teen, witnessed the atrocities of World War II in the battle for the Northern Mariana Islands.

After the war, still just a girl, Tan Esco opened Saipan's first beauty shop. She then expanded into retail, selling clothes and shoes. She and her husband, the late Gregorio Camacho Cabrera, started a gasoline station, began manufacturing charcoal and tapioca, and opened Saipan's first ice cream shop. Tan Esco's true legacy, however, will forever be her bakery. People from all over the Marianas and from across the Pacific know and love the local Chamorro treats offered at Esco's, including bibingka, rosko, apigigi, and pan tuba.

The people of the Northern Mariana Islands honor the many contributions Escolastica's Enterprises has made to our community. Perhaps her greatest contribution is Tan Esco's work ethic, her drive to succeed--a shining example to us all.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1564) commending and congratulating Michigan Technological University on the occasion of its 125th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 1564 into the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1564, which celebrates Michigan Technological University for 125 years of leadership and service in higher education.

Michigan Technological University was originally chartered as the Michigan School of Mines in 1885 and was later renamed the Michigan College of Mining and Technology. The college was founded in response to the needs of the copper industry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In 1964, as the school continued to expand its academic programs and student body, it became Michigan Technological University.

Michigan Tech students and alumni hail from all 50 States and from over 100 countries. It offers 110 majors in 56 fields of study, and 83 percent of its students graduate in the high-demand fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. With over 7,000 students seeking baccalaureate, master and doctoral degrees and a budget of $55 million for applied research expenditures, the school has furnished vital resources for education, expertise and innovation to the State of Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

Michigan Tech boasts several innovative programs to help their students prepare for careers in their chosen fields. One of these is known as the Enterprise Program. Founded in 2000, the Enterprise Program allows teams of students from different disciplines to work together to function as a professional company. Participating students work with local industry leaders to solve real-world problems, including the research and development of new technologies. Several programs have gone on to receive Federal grants and win international design competitions. Such programs, in addition to earning a ``high research university'' designation from the Carnegie Foundation, speak to Michigan Tech's commitment to institutional excellence.

Michigan Tech students also enjoy a number of extracurricular activities. The campus has over 200 student organizations, a Division I men's hockey team and 12 Division II varsity sports teams. The college's women's basketball team has made the NCAA Division II Elite Eight each of the past 2 years.

The graduates of Michigan Tech have long benefited the State of Michigan and the Nation and persistently advance economic development and entrepreneurship in their communities.

Once again, I express my support for House Resolution 1564 and congratulate Michigan Technological University on its 125th year anniversary. I thank Representative Stupak for bringing this resolution forward.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my good friend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak).

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1480) commending the University of Southern California Trojan men's tennis team for its victory in the 2010 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Tennis Championship.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 1480 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I consume.

I rise today in support of House Resolution 1480, which congratulates the University of Southern California's men's tennis team, the Trojans, for winning the 2010 NCAA championship.

For the second year in a row, the number five seed USC Trojans triumphed over their opponents after another amazing performance and season that ended with a 25-3 record. Despite losing their first two doubles matches, the Trojans fought back in singles matches en route to their 4-2 championship victory over the Tennessee Volunteers, this year's number two seed.

Recording victories in their singles matches were Robert Farah and Steve Johnson, with Daniel Nguyen and Peter Lucassen helping to cement the win. For his phenomenal efforts on the court, Nguyen was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

This victory is USC head coach Peter Smith's second national championship and the second time the USC Trojans have captured back-to- back championships--their first during their 1993 and 1994 seasons. Amazingly, this is the team's 18th national championship. Given their dedication, hard work, and commitment to excellence, the USC men's tennis team has rightfully earned this latest championship title.

Madam Speaker, once again I express my support for House Resolution 1480 and congratulate the University of Southern California men's tennis team, Coach Smith on his outstanding achievements with the team, and each of the Trojan men's tennis team players on this extraordinary NCAA victory.

I want to thank Representative Watson for introducing this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield such time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from California, Madam Ambassador Watson.

Madam Speaker, I also urge my colleagues to support House Resolution 1480.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1611) expressing support for designation of the week beginning September 19, 2010, as ``National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week''.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 1611 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1611, which encourages establishment of the week of September 19 as National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week. Hispanic-Serving Institutions are degree-granting institutions of higher education with a student population that is at least one-quarter Hispanic. In 1990, there were only 137 recognized Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Today, there are 268 such institutions, educating nearly half of all Hispanic college and university students nationwide.

Overall, Hispanic students are more likely than their peers to face multiple obstacles in their access to, and completion of, higher education. They are less likely than their white peers to complete their bachelor's degrees due to issues such as poverty, immigration status, language barriers, family responsibilities, and the demands of part-time employment. Hispanic-Serving Institutions play a crucial role in addressing these issues and obstacles by providing the support services necessary to help their students focus on and complete their degrees.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions provide opportunities for their students to get involved in campus and community leadership activities, and also work to prepare students for careers in a 21st century workforce by expanding the ranks of Hispanics in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.

Recently, the nonprofit organization Excelencia in Education began a national initiative known as Ensuring America's Future By Increasing Latino College Completion. This initiative aims to focus attention on serving Hispanic students by organizations, institutions, and policymakers, to delineate degree completion goals, and encourage Federal, State, and institutional policies which promote the success of Hispanic students. The initiative also aligns with President Obama's goal to increase our Nation's degree attainment by 2020.

Over 50 organizations have partnered with Excelencia to support the campaign, including groups such as the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the Alliance for Excellent Education, and the National Governors Association.

According to the United States Census, only 19 percent of Hispanics in the United States had earned an associate's degree or higher in 2008. In comparison, 59 percent of Asians, 39 percent of whites, and 28 percent of African Americans had earned an associate's or higher in the same year. A report by Excelencia states that 5.5 million Latinos will have to earn college degrees between now and 2020 in order for the United States to reach the Obama administration's degree completion goal. That means 3.3 million more Latinos will have to complete

college than are currently projected. Our Nation's Hispanic-Serving Institutions will help us lead the way to greater access to and completion of higher education for all of America's students.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this important resolution and join me in recognizing the week of September 19 as the 2010 National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week and honoring the important contributions these institutions make to the education of our students.

I thank my good friend Representative Grijalva for his leadership in bringing this important resolution forward.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), a leader in education for all students, including Hispanic students.

Madam Speaker, I also urge the support of H. Res. 1611.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in the Northern Mariana Islands, as in the rest of America, baseball is the national pastime. And no single person in our islands' history did more to establish and maintain the sport of baseball than Francisco M. Palacios. Yet he did it without playing a single game.

The American military brought baseball to our islands during World War II. Along with the rifles and planes came gloves, bats, and balls for the soldiers' recreation. Schoolboys and young men on our islands picked up the game naturally from the military. Then play became formalized. Teams were organized around neighborhoods, and the first league was formed in 1953.

As a young man, Palacios would walk the 3 miles to Garapan to watch the Sunday afternoon games. He wanted to play but didn't have the skill to make the starting nine of his district team in Chalan Kanoa. So, sitting on the bench in the dugout, Palacios decided to contribute by becoming the scorekeeper.

He learned the art of scorekeeping from a Navy man stationed on Saipan, and a look at Palacios' score sheets reveals a military preciseness and meticulousness. The system he used was invented a hundred years ago earlier by American Henry Chadwick, who is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Soon after becoming his team's scorekeeper, Palacios began keeping score for the entire league, and he remained the official scorekeeper for every baseball league on Saipan until his retirement in 2006--a span of six decades.

Palacios, called ``Tan'ko'' in our vernacular language, raised over a dozen children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But he always made time for his duties as scorekeeper.

Without a scorekeeper, there is no game; without a record keeper, there are no records. And baseball, more than any other game, depends on its records. The box score preserves a game for all time no matter when or where it's played. Season records give us a way of comparing players, even those who never played against each other. The records connect the past to the present.

Thanks to Tan'ko, Saipan was the only island in all of Micronesia that maintained yearly statistics, season after season.

Thanks to Tan'ko's dedication as a volunteer, baseball grew. Frank Palacios was there to help when Little League was first organized in 1973. Since then, teams from the Northern Mariana Islands have been frequent contestants at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; at the Junior League World Series in Taylor, Michigan; at the Senior League

World Series in Bangor, Maine; and at the Big League World Series in Easley, South Carolina. Players from Saipan have gone to play college baseball in the mainland.

In 1994, the Commonwealth legislature recognized Tan'ko's contributions by renaming it's only regulation baseball field Francisco M. Palacios Field.

In 2007, Palacios co-authored the book ``Saipan Baseball: From the Beginning,'' which included all the individual and team records from the inception of the Saipan Major League in 1982.

Francisco M. Palacios has been voted into the CNMI Sports Hall of Fame. When his name came up for selection, there was no argument. He was selected unanimously.

Tan'ko provided the solid, steady foundation for baseball to become Saipan's favorite pastime. And he did it all, not by hitting home runs or striking out batters; he accomplished it with his calm, dependable presence, sure knowledge, and selfless devotion. That is why he came to be a legend in his own time, in his own way, on his own island.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a cosponsor of H. RES. 1548.

Mr. Speaker, before there was GPS, before there were compasses, the people of the Pacific navigated over thousands of miles of open ocean, including Hawaii and Samoa and Tahiti and New Zealand and hundreds of tiny islands and atolls in between. Yet in our lifetime, this ancient knowledge of navigation was all but lost until one man on the island of Satawal, who may have been the sole remaining practitioner, made it his mission to spread the Pacific art of navigation once again from island to island and keep it alive.

Mau Piailug succeeded in preserving thousands of years of accumulated understanding of how to sail using the stars and the rhythm, taste, and temperature of the oceans. He trained others to distinguish each region of the sea by the life it harbors, when to the untrained eye these ocean reaches seem uniform, even empty of life. He reawakened pride in the unimaginable competence and courage of our ancestors, who over the course of so many generations populated the Pacific.

Mau Piailug died on his home island of Satawal yesterday. As a fellow Pacific Islander, I thank him for all he gave us. I wish him well on his final journey.

I rise to pay special tribute to the life of a remarkable man, a hero of the Micronesian Islands and the entire Pacific, Master Navigator Pius Mau Piailug.

Piailug was the best-known modern practitioner of the ancient art of navigating over thousands of miles of ocean without the need for maps or instruments. He died on July 18.

Pius Mau Piailug began life on the atoll island of Satawal, one of the outer islands of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. His grandfather first began training Mau in the traditional arts of navigation. He fashioned his grandson a star chart of palm and coral and sat with him to watch the stars traverse the sky each night, learning their paths and the times they rose and fell on the horizon. As he grew, Mau was allowed to spend time in the canoe house with other elders, who taught him about the many signs needed to sail the sea. He learned to read the rhythm and temperature of the waves, to understand the significance of the flight of birds, to know where he was in the ocean by the kinds of sea life to be found there. And when he had learned all that he could from the canoe house elders, Mau was sent to a master navigator, a ``Paliuw,'' who lived on a nearby island, to complete his education. Finally, at the age of 18, Mau was christened a master navigator in the Weriyeng School of Navigation during a sacred ceremony called ``Pwo.''

Throughout his adult life, Mau Piailug honed his mastery of the ocean navigation and knowledge of the seas, sailing his canoe and living his life in the traditional way. He could see, though, that life in Satawal and across Micronesia was changing. Children were relying more on books and schools for their education rather than learning from their elders as they always had. Children were no longer interested in learning about navigation. The Pwo ceremony was no longer celebrated, because no new navigators were being trained. On islands across the Pacific, the old navigators were dying without passing on their knowledge. Piailug started to fear that that this would also happen on his home of Satawal.

It happened, however, that a group of men in Hawaii had also sensed that that ancient arts of the sea were in danger. So, they determined to build a traditional double-hulled, ocean-going canoe and retrace the voyages of their ancestors. For that, they would need a navigator, however; and no one in Hawai'i still had this skill. Thus, it was that Mau Piailug became master navigator of Hokule'a on its maiden voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti. And that thirty-three day sail, proving that the ancient technologies of ship craft and navigation persisted, ignited a fervor for the old ways and a new pride in the Micronesian and Polynesian cultures that has revitalized voyaging, canoe building, and non-instrument navigation throughout the Pacific.

The voyage of Hokule'a was just a beginning. In the years that followed, Mau began to pass on his knowledge of navigation. He took numerous others on voyages throughout the Pacific. He sailed from the Hawaiian Islands to the Northern Mariana Islands, a feat no one known had ever before been known to accomplish. He made frequent trips sailing from Yap to the shores of Tanapag Village on the island of Saipan, where he had relatives.

Piailug felt compelled to pass on what he had received, and he gave freely the gift of his ancestors. He taught all who would listen, and peoples all over the Pacific began building canoes and rediscovering their past. With much determination and patience, Mau Piailug created a new generation of navigators.

Now Pius Mau Piailug has embarked on his last voyage.

I call upon my colleagues to join me in honoring this master of navigation, this mentor of navigators.

I would like to thank the distinguished Member from Guam, Chairwoman Bordallo, for assisting us and managing the bill through today's session. I also want to thank Congressman Raul Grijalva, chairman on the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, and his staff for helping him bring this bill to the floor, and thank Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall for moving this bill through the committee.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation means a lot to my constituents on Rota. I would like to add to the Record a letter of support for H.R. 4686 from the mayor of Rota, the Honorable Melchor A. Mendiola.

Mr. Speaker, it was residents of Rota who first asked me to explore the possibility of a national park on their island. H.R. 4686 does just that. It authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to determine whether the cultural, archaeological, historical, and natural resources of Rota are of national significance. If they are of national significance, the bill asks the Secretary to report to Congress on the feasibility and suitability of designating parts of Rota as a unit of our great national parks system.

At the hearing on this bill before Chairman Grijalva's subcommittee, Rota was represented by Teresita A. Santos, who is also Rota's representative in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives. She described her island to the subcommittee. She spoke of the ancient Latte Stone Culture of the original Chamorro people at Mochan Village and Alaguan Bay Village and of the Taga quarry, where the ancients carved out the massive stones that held up their houses. She spoke of the Chugai Pictorial Cave where these same people left their drawings. She spoke of the remnant structures from the Japanese era of colonialism in the early 20th century, and she spoke of the unique limestone forests, home to rare and endangered bird and plant life which remain intact on parts of Rota; whereas, on other islands in the Northern Marianas, volcanic activity and the impact of modern-day humans have largely removed those forests.

Representative Santos also showed the subcommittee photographs of the places she was describing. The presentation was so powerful that one of the subcommittee members called Rota ``a jewel.'' I could not agree more. But this jewel needs protection.

As the Interior Department witness at the hearing noted, Rota is today at a crossroads. Development is bearing down. Just a few miles across the ocean, a massive buildup of U.S. military forces is about to commence on the island of Guam. That growth is bound to spill over to Rota as military families look for weekend getaways and the waters and beaches of Rota beckon.

The national park study offers the people of Rota an opportunity, I believe, to make some thoughtful decisions about what is truly important to preserve. The process of public input and discussion--that will be as much a part of the study as the cataloguing of natural and cultural resources--will help the people of Rota make these determinations. And if a park is recommended and one day designated by Congress, that clear definition of what most needs to be formally preserved will also allow development on the rest of Rota to proceed with more freedom.

It is the acknowledged goal of Rota to be a site for ecotourism, so no development there will be conducted in a way that would spoil the very character of the island that draws the ecotourist. In fact, the presence of a national park, which underscores the rarity and importance of the archaeological, historical, and natural resources I have described on Rota, would itself complement and enhance this goal of becoming an ecotourism destination.

It's a win-win. We can spur economic growth, create jobs, and increase protection of significant national treasures. But for any of this to occur requires, first, the study authorized by my bill. So let us take the first step today, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 4686.

Northern Mariana Islands June 22, 2010.

Office of the Mayor,

Municipality of Rota,

Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan

U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC

Dear Congressman Sablan: Congratulations for getting the

Rota National Park Study (H.R. 4686) approved by the U.S.

House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee. It is

an important step towards approval by the U.S. House of

Representatives.

It is very important that a National Park in Rota be

established as it would greatly enhance Rota's attraction as

a tourist destination. It would also contribute significantly

towards our overall economic development. As you pointed out,

eco-tourism has been targeted as a most favorable type of

tourism for Rota. A well planned and well structured national

park would be the best avenue to develop Rota's eco-tourism

potential. Please convey to the member of the U.S. Congress

that the people of Rota support the establishment of a

National Park in Rota.

On behalf of the people of Rota, I wish to thank you for

your efforts and please do not hesitate to contact me should

you need my assistance.

Sincerely,

Melchor A. Mendiola,

Mayor of Rota.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man truly blessed by his Creator: a man who is religious, honest, faithful, devoted, and obedient to his calling. The man to whom I refer is the Reverend Monsignor Louis Antonelli, the pastor of San Isidro Church on the island of Rota.

Monsignor Antonelli was born on September 23, 1918, in Sheppron, Pennsylvania. He began his studies for the priesthood at the Stigmatine Minor Seminary in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1931, at the tender age of 13 years. He continued his studies at the Stigmatine Major Seminary in Wellesley, Massachusetts until he was ordained a priest on June 11, 1949, and immediately became an assistant pastor at the Sacred Heart Church, in Milford, Massachusetts.

Four years later in 1953, he was assigned to the U.S. territory of Guam, where he taught at Father Duenas Memorial School, a Catholic high school, until being reassigned to the mainland United States in 1959.

In 1970 he returned to Guam, this time as Assistant Pastor at the Agana Cathedral and San Vicente Church. He also served as Director of the Permanent Diaconate Program on Guam.

In 1973, he was sent to the Northern Mariana Islands, first for two weeks on Tinian, then to the permanent position of Pastor of San Francisco De Borja Church in Songsong, Rota. There he served until 1991, when he initiated and built the Rota San Isidro Mission at Sinapalu on Rota, becoming its Pastor and serving at the Mission up to the present day.

In his ministry, Monsignor Antonelli presided over countless masses, baptisms, catechism classes, counseling sessions, weddings and funerals. His daily work involves administering communion to hospital patients, prison inmates, the sick and the elderly.

In partnership with the Sisters of Mercy from Guam, he established the Escuelan San Francisco De Borja on Rota in 1985. Today, the school continues to provide grade school education to children on Rota. He is also directly responsible for the beautification and maintenance of the San Pedro Cemetery on Rota, which some have referred as a mini Arlington National Cemetery because of the care Pale Antonelli has given this ground.

While ministering to his flock, Monsignor Antonelli also has found time to breed and raise cattle and to experiment with a variety of grasses to use as feed. He has a herd of nearly 100 head of cattle on his small Rota ranch. Many would say that the Monsignor has bred the best cattle and maintains the best grazing lands on Rota.

Monsignor Antonelli's service and activities have won wide recognition. Among the honors he has received during his service on Rota is recognition as the ``Conservationist of the Year'' in 1990 by the Luta Soil and Water Conservation District; and in 1996, Pope John Paul II named him ``Prelate of Honor'', which gave him the title of Monsignor.

Monsignor Antonelli has been a priest for 61 years, 37 of which he ministered to the spiritual health of the people of Rota, volunteered as a high school teacher and assisted farmers and cattle ranchers. He has declared and affirmed that Rota is his home for the rest of his life and also where he wants to rest in peace.

On behalf of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, I wish to express my gratitude to Monsignor Antonelli for all his exceptional service and wish him good health and much happiness as he continues his ministry to our people: We look forward to his 92nd birthday in September!

Mr. Speaker, God's blessings come to us in many forms. One of the ways the people of Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands have been most blessed by God is through His minister, the Reverend Monsignor Louis Antonelli. In September, Pale Antonelli will celebrate his 92nd birthday. For 37 of those years, he has served on the island of Rota, first as pastor of San Francisco De Borja Church in Songsong Village, then as pastor of San Isidro Church in Sinapalu.

Throughout these years, Monsignor Antonelli has presided over countless masses, baptisms, catechism classes, counseling sessions, weddings, and funerals. He has ministered to hospital patients, prison inmates, the sick, and the elderly. But in addition to being a man of the spirit, the beloved Pale Antonelli is a man of the Earth. His herd of cattle, about 100 head, and the grazing lands he has cultivated for them are widely recognized among Rota's finest, a product of nurture and careful breeding.

It is a long way from Sheppton, Pennsylvania, where Pale Antonelli was born, to the island of Rota. God's ways are unfathomable. But we are all grateful that God's ways brought Pale Antonelli to the Northern Mariana Islands.

Madam Speaker, 86-year-old Manuel Seman Villagomez's kempt silver hair, easy smile and gregarious personality belie his years of hard work and difficult childhood. He came from a large family with meager possessions, but over time, intense work and unwavering devotion to his faith and family have made him a contented man.

Manuel, or Manny, Villagomez was born on January 24, 1924 on Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands during the Japanese occupation. He is the youngest of ten children. His Chamorro father was born on Guam, but, at the age of 18, he moved to Saipan with his siblings. Manny's mother, half Chamorro and half Carolinian, was from Saipan.

Manny received a sixth grade level education, the maximum allowable for Chamorro children under Japanese law at the time. After he graduated from school, he worked at the family farm and sold produce to the Japanese stores to support the large family. He fished with his father to supplement the family income. His father's love of fishing for kichu, or sergeant fish, was the reason for his family being affectionately called ``Kiyu.''

During World War II, as American forces started their approach to the Mariana Islands, the Japanese government restricted Manny and his family, as well as the rest of the Chamorros, to their respective family farms. When the Americans landed on Saipan on June 14, 1944, Manny was one of the many Chamorros forced to flee to the jungle, hiding out in caves, trying to avoid the fierce battle that engulfed the island. On July 4, 1944, U.S. Marines found Manny and others hiding in a cave in Talofofo and led them out to Camp Susupe, where civilians were confined until after the war. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the U.S. Marines recruited Manny and 63 other Chamorro and Carolinian men to serve as marine scouts and search for Japanese snipers and holdouts on Saipan and in the Northern Islands. It was not until January 31, 2000--55 years later--that U.S. Armed Forces formally recognized Manny and the other marine scouts for their service. They were officially sworn in, and on the same day, formally discharged from the Marine Corps.

Right after the war, Manny was attracted to a young woman who would later become his wife for 58 years. She was Luise Pangelinan Villagomez, born on November 14, 1929 on Saipan. She grew up in a family of eight children. Luise only had a third grade education but she learned to speak three languages, Chamorro, Japanese, and after World War II, English. After two years of courtship, the young couple married on February 26, 1949. A month later, they moved into their new, albeit tiny house, which Manny had built with the earnings from his job as a police officer. Their marriage produced six daughters and six sons: Linda, Patricia, Thomas, Barbara, Manuel Jr., Joseph, Edward, David, Nora, John, Ramona, and Antonia.

Manny's first job after World War II had been as a mess boy for the American enlisted personnel, which is how he learned to speak English. Thereafter, he served as a policeman for 12 years under the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands' Insular Constabulary. He rose to the rank of sergeant and became an administrator. Manny quickly learned how the U.S. Naval and local governments procured goods. In 1955, he used his knowledge and experience to start a small grocery store, M.S. Villagomez Store, in Chalan Kanoa. It was the third locally owned grocery store in operation.

Initially, Luise, by then a mother of four, handled the store's daily operations. Realizing that his wife needed help and that the family business presented a better opportunity, Manny left his police job. In 1960, Manny and Luise relocated the store to a corner lot on Beach Road near the Chalan Kanoa post office. Six years later, in 1966, the couple built a large, two-story building to accommodate the expanding grocery and department store as well as provide office rental space.

As the business grew, so did the family, which by 1968, had increased to twelve children, most of whom were old enough to work in the business. Manny and Luise then built a second store in Garapan which they later leased to Duty Free Shoppers, now DFS Galleria. During this time, the family business expanded to the export of scrap and recycled materials to Japan. The couple also entered into a joint venture with Luise's brother and opened a store on the island of Chuuk, one of the other islands in Micronesia, from 1969 to 1977.

In December 1976, the family suffered a major setback when fire engulfed their department store building. Manny and Luise salvaged what they could from the fire and quickly reopened a small store across the street. As they accumulated some assets, they invested in real properties and gradually developed and rented them out. They resisted any loan offers from banks and were extremely cautious and conservative in their investments.

In 1978, Saipan began to see the influx of foreign investments particularly from Japan. Manny and Luise leased their prime properties to investors for large scale developments. They reinvested their new capital in other real properties by again self-financing the construction of commercial space and apartment buildings. They also purchased some undeveloped real properties in the United States for investment and security. Having survived World War II and seen his own father go through changes in sovereign control in Guam and then in Saipan, Manny felt the need to own real property in the continental United States in the event the family had to flee or relocate from Saipan. In 1979, the Villagomez family joined several other Chamorro families in purchasing houses in San Leandro, California. Manny and Luise then moved their younger children to San Leandro to further their education.

In the 1990s, Manny and Luise shifted the focus of their business from retail to the construction business, and to commercial and apartment rental. So that they could pursue their love of traveling, they also decided to transfer the management and operation of the business to their children. Manny and Luise were able to visit many cities in Europe, traveled extensively throughout Asia and the U.S., and spent considerable time at their San Leandro home.

While Manny is widely known for his business accomplishments, he is most proud of his service as the first Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) for the Northern Mariana Islands, a position he held from 1988 to 2000. As the NMI's CASA, Manny enjoyed the time he spent supporting the generals, veterans and active soldiers.

Manny and Luise never lost sight of their civic duties. In 1990, they made a sizeable donation for the construction of the first major public library, the Joeten-Kiyu Library, in Susupe, Saipan. They were generous benefactors to schools, churches and charitable organizations. Manny and his children continue the tradition of giving and assisting others in the community.

It was always the couple's dream to have their children reunited on Saipan. During the 1990s, Manny and Luise subdivided their large Fina Sisu property purchased in the 1950s and helped their children build their own homes there. Today, the lake and ocean view property, known as the MSV Kiyu compound, is a quaint, friendly place where all the twelve children have homes and where a majority of the 40 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren can be seen visiting throughout the year. It is also where Luise peacefully passed away surrounded by her loving family in September 2007 at the age of 77 years.

Today, Manny lives in the family compound with ten of his children and their families. He still travels but spends most of his time in the compound tending to his mini-farm, fruit trees, and other plants, and living a quiet and peaceful life.

Madam Speaker, some families have an out-size influence in their community. With 12 children, 40 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren, Manuel Seman and Luise Pangelinan Villagomez have clearly had an impact. But their influence was more than numerical. The Villagomezes were among the first great entrepreneurs to emerge from the ashes of World War II in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Manny's family had farmed and fished, selling their produce to Japanese retail stores before the war. But afterwards Manny and Luise became business people themselves. They began with a small grocery store in Chalan Kanoa, then added a second in Garapan. They invested in real estate, went into construction, sold scrap and grew their fortunes. They invested, too, in their children's education, though they had only a sixth grade and third grade education between them. And they taught their children business, bringing them into the stores at an early age.

Luise passed away, surrounded by loved ones, at the Kiyu compound in Fina Sisu a few years ago. But Manny Villagomez lives on, farming as he did as a child, still traveling occasionally, satisfied with the fruits of a life of hard work and devotion to family and faith.

The people of the Northern Mariana Islands love rice. Pre-contact with the West, the Marianas were the easternmost extent of the cultivation of rice. For us, a meal without rice is no meal.

Yet, ironically, one of our most cherished local businesses processes that

great competitor of rice: Wheat bread. Pan mamis and Pan toasta. These baked goods bring back mouthwatering memories for all of us in the Marianas. And the source of this goodness we most recall is Herman's Modern Bakery.

Perhaps, our devotion to Herman's has to do with the roots of that business in the ashes of war. Like the people of Israel beset by the Babylonians, as the people of the Marianas emerged from the trauma of World War II, ``the famine was sore, so that there was no bread.'' We were starving and stored together in an internment camp in the days and months following the U.S. victory over the Japanese in 1944.

But the U.S. forces quickly began reorganizing society and reestablishing the ability of our community to care for itself. The occupying forces tapped the young Herman Reyes Guerrero to bake. Herman had previously apprenticed as a baker during the Japanese administration of the Northern Marianas, and he quickly agreed to return to this calling. He began baking bread for the U.S. troops, for Japanese prisoners of war, and for the Chamorro and Carolinian people of Saipan housed by the military in Camp Susupe.

As often happens after war, much materiel is left behind, cheaper to abandon than to return home. So it was at the close of World War II in the Pacific that the United States Navy simply gave Herman Guerrero the baking equipment the military had supplied for him to use.

With those ovens and mixers and the customer base he had already established, Herman opened Herman's Bakery. Not only was this the first bakery, this was the very first company founded in our postwar economy.

As the years went by, from that base of bread and baked goods, Herman's business grew. He opened the first hotel on the island of Saipan, a retail store, a laundromat, and a travel agency. In the early 1980s, following extensive expansion and upgrading, the bakery became known as Herman's Modern Bakery, and its products became ubiquitous throughout Micronesia. Today, the company's distribution chain includes several international franchises. You can even find Herman's cookies for sale on the Internet.

One of Herman Guerrero's fondest memories of his early baking career was a visit to the shop by Admiral Chester Nimitz, and throughout the following 65-plus years of growth, the close relationship between the United States military and the bakery continued. Today, as the U.S. build-up commences on Guam, Herman's has contracted as an authorized supplier, opening up a distribution facility and considering a bakery there. Herman's also regularly supplies the U.S. naval vessels that dock in Saipan for R&R. For just as many residents like to make Herman's our last stop on the drive to the airport--to take pan mamis, guzuria and crocks of cookies away as gifts and comfort foods from home--so, too, the sailors of the U.S. fleet enjoy pulling away from the dock with Herman's sweets stocked in the galley.

From a humble one-man beginning, today, Herman provides jobs for over 110 individuals. A leading corporate citizen, Herman's is a strong supporter of civic, charitable, educational, and religious organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Commonwealth Health Center, the Rotary Club, the Northern Marianas College Foundation, the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, and nearly every school, church, and village fiesta on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. The company piloted our school lunch program and has provided technical expertise to individuals on other islands in Micronesia who are opening or improving their own bakeries. With the recent establishment of the distribution center on Guam, the company has begun to expand its charitable support to that island, too.

Always, the bakery remains the heart of the family of companies and of the family of Herman Guerrero himself. All of the surviving children of Herman and his wife, Maria Tenorio Guerrero--Jesus, Agnes, Herman Jr., Juan, Florencio, Margarita, Anna, Rudolfo, Joseph, and Leonora-- have worked at the bakery during significant portions of their adult lives. Herman was so identified with the bakery business that he came to be called by the nickname ``Pan,'' which in the Chamorro language means ``bread.'' Indeed, to this day, many of his children carry the ``Pan'' honorific as part of their own everyday names. For most of us in the Northern Mariana Islands, when we hear the word ``pan,'' it's a tossup which comes first to mind: Herman Reyes Guerrero--Herman ``Pan''--and his wonderful bakery, or just the wonderful baked goods that ``Pan'' produced.

Dangkulo na si yu`us ma`ase.