Political Reviews michael lujan bevacqua, elizabeth (isa) ua ceallaigh bowman, zaldy dandan, monica c labriola, nic maclellan, tiara r na'puti, gonzaga puas peter clegg, lorenz gonschor, margaret mutu, salote talagi, forrest wade young 187 political reviews • micronesia 195 FSM Constitution. 1978. Available on the Nanmadapw-Palikir, Pohnpei, 15 Septem- FSM Legal Information System website: ber. http://fsmlaw.org/fsm/constitution/index Sivas, Vince. 2019. Internet interview with .htm author, 16 September. FSM Public Law 18-34. 2013. Available Walter, Inos. 2019. Interview with author, from http://www.cfsm.gov.fm/index.php/ Weno, Chuuk, 3 September. legislations/public-laws/18th-fsm-congress -public-laws Zhang, Weidong. 2017. Interview with author, Palikir, Pohnpei, May. FSM Updates. 2014. President Mori Declares “State of Emergency” as Ping Da 7 Posts Greater Threat Sitting on Nan Kepkepin Param Reef in Pohnpei. Guam 23 January. http://myfsm.blogspot.com .au/2014/01/president-mori-declares-state The year 2018–2019 in Guam began -of.html on a high note with a series of land- Illon, Epel. 2019. Interview with author, mark elections and ended more Kolonia, Pohnpei, 13 September. forebodingly with a federal court case threatening the rights of the island’s Mori, Emanuel. 2019. Interview author, Kolonia, Pohnpei, 18 September. Indigenous people. November 2018 saw the victory Moufa, Richard. 2019. Interview with of Democrat Lourdes “Lou” Leon author, Kolonia, Pohnpei, 6 September. Guerrero as the island’s first female pit, Pacific Island Times. Daily Internet governor. For centuries, chief execu- and monthly print news. Tumon, Guam. tives on island have been referred to https://www.pacificislandtimes.com as “maga'låhi,” a colonial appropria- Puas, Gonzaga. 2015. The Federated tion of the CHamoru term for a male States of Micronesia Engagement with the leader. With Leon Guerrero’s election, Outside World: Control Self-Preservation she assumed for the first time in mod- and Continuity. PhD thesis, the Australian ern history the title of “maga'håga,” National University. Available from or female leader (pdn, 7 Nov 2018). https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu Leon Guerrero led a local “blue wave” .au/handle/1885/104841 of Democrats who seized a super ———. 2018a. Micronesia and the Rise of majority (ten out of fifteen) seats in China: Realpolitik Meets the Reef. Unpub- I Liheslaturan Guåhan (Guam Legis- lished Paper written for the Micronesian lature). Among those elected was Institute for Research and Development former journalist Clynt Ridgell, the (mirad), Palikir, Pohnpei, January. first Guam-elected leader of Chuukese ———. 2018b. The Proposed Compact descent (pdn, 7 Jan 2019). Leon of Disassociation and Re-Association for Guerrero’s lieutenant governor, Joshua the Republic of Chuuk. Fourth Branch, Tenorio, became the first openly 5 August. http://www.tfbmicronesia.com/ gay man in US history to hold that articles/2018/8/5/the-proposed-compact-of position. -dis-association-and-re-association-for-the In I Liheslaturan Guåhan, ten of -republic-of-chuuk?rq=puas the officials elected were women, Samson, Pier. 2019. Interview with author, including seven Democrats and three 196 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) Republicans. With 67 percent of its lieutenant governor. In the midst of legislature made up of women, Guam the campaign, Tenorio was charged held one of the highest percentages and tried for official misconduct for of female elected leadership in world taking a police officer’s gun. While history. This milestone reflected the Tenorio was found not guilty after wave of women winning public office the election, the scandal tarnished his in the continental United States, but it campaign (pdn, 22 March 2019). could also be tied to a resurgence of With Leon Guerrero the heavy CHamoru values long suppressed by favorite, much attention was focused patriarchal colonialism (pdn, 8 Nov on whether or not her camp would 2018). be able to garner enough votes to As a way of combining these avoid a runoff election. According to two narratives, a company called Guam law, a candidate must receive Maga'håga Rising began to sell “The a majority of the votes in order to be Future is Famalao’an” t-shirts shortly elected, or else a runoff is held. Aguon after Leon Guerrero’s inauguration. and Limtiaco’s write-in campaign won “Famalao’an” is the CHamoru term an unprecedented 22.9 percent of the for women, playing on the popular general election votes, just 1,258 fewer American hashtag #thefutureisfemale than Ray Tenorio and his running (pdn, 13 Jan 2019). mate, former Senator Tony Ada (26.4 At the same time, the maga'håga percent). Leon Guerrero narrowly appointed Tony Babauta as her chief avoided a runoff by winning 50.7 of staff and Jack Hattig as director of percent of the votes. the Chamorro Land Trust Commis- Maga'håga Leon Guerrero, a sion. This was despite past scandals former nurse, was a pro-choice involving sexual misconduct toward community activist in Guam in the women—Babauta at the federal level early 1990s. Guam remains a heavily and Hattig at a high school (pdn, Catholic island, although recent child 10 Dec 2019; gdp, 19 Jan 2019). sexual abuse scandals have weakened Leon Guerrero survived a divi- the influence of the church. Though sive four-way primary to become the not damaging her campaign, her Democratic Party’s nominee. Leon support for reproductive rights as Guerrero and Tenorio beat their maga'håga created a minicontroversy. closest primary opponents, former After the election, Leon Guerrero’s Senator Frank Aguon and former Bureau of Women’s Affairs began Attorney General of Guam Alicia actively seeking an abortion provider Limtiaco, by under 300 votes (8,218 for Guam, as there had been no to 7,958). Aguon and Limtiaco, official provider for nearly a year. The despite signing a party unity pledge bureau director stated that a recent during the campaign, mounted a case in which a twelve-year-old girl on write-in campaign during the general Guam was raped and impregnated had election. Their effort was boosted galvanized her (pdn, 3 June 2019). through significant self-inflicted Antiabortion groups organized pro- wounds by the Republican nomi- tests in response (pdn, 14 June 2019). nee for governor Ray Tenorio, then Sexual abuse and assault became political reviews • micronesia 197 more prominent in public discourse Other protests erupted over the US during the review period. For years, military’s plans to transfer thousands revelations had poured out regarding of Marines and dependents from child sexual abuse by priests within Okinawa to Guam. Construction to the local Catholic church. In January support the transfer had been stymied 2019, the Archdiocese of Agaña for years due to lack of federal fund- (Hagåtña) declared bankruptcy and ing, but by 2018–2019, construction prepared to sell nonessential assets was in full swing, with hundreds of (kuam News, 16 Jan 2019). A dead- acres of limestone forest bulldozed in line of 15 August 2019 was set for northwest Guam. potential claimants to file suit seek- In October 2018, following the ing damages for alleged abuse. As of demolition of an ancient CHamoru August 2019, more than two hundred historical area called Magua' on had filed (cna, 8 Aug 2019). the naval base in Dededo, a protest The disgraced former archbishop of organized by demilitarization and Guam, Anthony Apuron, was among decolonization activists from Prutehi the three dozen clergy named in these Litekyan and Independent Guåhan lawsuits. On 4 April 2019, the Vati- gathered more than 150 demonstra- can announced that its private tribu- tors outside the base gate (kuam nal had upheld the charges against News, 4 Nov 2018). Acting Speaker Apuron and stripped him of the title of the Legislature Therese Terlaje of archbishop, though he retained the criticized the military for “a continued rank of bishop (pdn, 21 April 2019). blatant disregard and erasure of the Apuron never stood trial in a secular culture, resources, and four-thousand- court. year history of the indigenous Cha- Similarly, disgraced former senior morro people” (pdn, 31 Oct 2018). University of Guam professor Michael The election signaled increased Ehlert lost his court appeal for sexu- public concern over US military ally harassing and assaulting female actions toward Guam. Two activists university students and began serving who had been outspoken members his prison sentence as a convicted sex of Prutehi Litekyan won seats as offender (pdn, 24 July 2019). senators in I Liheslaturan Guåhan: In response to an increase in child- Sabina Flores, who had been a water- abuse reports on-island and a per- rights activist and high school science ceived lack of action in investigating teacher, and Kelly Marsh-Taitano, them, the Guam Family Justice Center an instructor at the University of Alliance called for a protest in April Guam. Leevin Camacho, Guam’s new 2019 (pdn, 21 April 2019). I Lihesla- attorney general, had been a leader turan Guåhan proposed multiple new during the protests that stopped the bills seeking to address the issue. The military’s planned use of Pågat for its proposals included setting a manda- firing range. He won election despite tory minimum for repeat sex offenders a campaign in which his opponent and prohibiting judges from reducing relentlessly attacked him as a radical sentences on sex crimes involving a (pdn, 7 Jan 2019). minor (pnc, 22 April 2019). By contrast, newly elected US 198 the contemporary pacific • 32:1 (2020) representative Michael San Nicolas— our political status, whatever that a young former Guam senator who may be . that’s our strength and the unseated longtime powerhouse leverage we have if we are going to go Madeleine Z Bordallo in the Demo- out and negotiate on our terms. cratic Party primary election—con- Some people feel we have no voice tinued to support the buildup and in this whole story of militarization, distanced himself from demilitariza- and this whole military buildup, it’s tion proponents.