DELICIOUS: LIKE MIDDLE SCHOOL FIGHTING IN THE PLAYGROUND

Listen to Lou and Therese attack each other. 

DELICIOUS! 

LINK

# Full Transcription of Recording: "The Struggle for Democratic Unity"

**Source Document:** Copy of 260817_0256.mp3  

**Context:** Democratic Party post-primary reconciliation meeting. The transcript contains debate between outgoing Governor Lou, candidate Speaker Terresa Loi, Senator Sabina, and party members regarding legislative cooperation, budget overrides, allegations of corruption, and party unity.

---

### **Governor Lou:**

First, I just want to say uh congratulations to everybody that has won this election. Congratulations to Theres and Sabina. I also want to say that the Democratic Party has always been united. The Democratic Party under my administration became united under my leadership. We got the the terrorist group. We have the Underwood group. and then our group. So, we've always been united. I think um issues that have come up have not been personal. They've not been personal. We had a Democratic majority in my first term. That did not help us at all. It did not. We did not start building a hospital that I would have wanted in my first term. We were obstructed with the contract. We were obstructed by the AG and by the legislature and we didn't move forward. These are not lies. These are facts. Um and and it's not personal. I'm just stating the facts. I remember Senator Sabina coming to my office which really hurt me and you said said to my chief of staff, "Can you turn off your um cell phone? Are you recording because you said to my face you did not trust me?" That is not a personal. That is a fact.

### **Senator Sabina:**

Yes, you did.

### **Senator Sabina:**

Yes, you did.

### **Meeting Chair / Moderator:**

Sorry. Whoever's If you guys are recording, can we please stop recording?

### **Meeting Chair / Moderator:**

Thank you.

### **Governor Lou:**

Yes, she Yes, she did. Senator, I would not ever make that up. something.

### **Senator Sabina:**

Yes, I'm sorry.

### **Speaker:**

That's something that

### **Governor Lou:**

I don't want to argue, but that is what you did.

### **Governor Lou (Continuing):**

That was really uh very hurtful for me. It was not a personal thing, but it was very hurtful for me. I have sent down a Democratic budget and I was not supported by the Democrat majority on my Democrat budget. I had to override a veto and my budget was overridden. People tell me that this is the first time in my term that a Democratic budget sent down to a Democratic majority was not passed. Not passed during the pandemic. The oversight for procurement which was you, Senator, we were grilled. We were accused of psych. I'm saying this to Ree because this is our party. This is our party and we need to be very frank because our supporters are having a hard time reconciling supporting it. Serious. We are a Democrat and we want to support a Democrat. candidate and it's very difficult when they see and it's not personal, it's true. When our Democratic senators stand up and start talking about our administration as corrupt, our Democratic administration from our Democratic leaders corrupt. And you can say that That's a lie. But we can show you lots of recording files of that. I'm telling you, my people, our Democratic people are very hurt by those comments.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

All right. If um I just want to say if we're going to have personal readings tonight, then I think that we need to really have some parameters because first of all, it's like a he said, she said, and and some of those are not accurate. and you want to hear the details of why the budget was not voted on, then we should talk about the details, not this blanket. I am just saying that's very we need

### **Governor Lou:**

there is no upset about allegations of corruption.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Yes, they need to be reminded of the details. So that's not an allegation against all the Democrats. It's an allegation that they're all

### **Party Member / Audience Speaker:**

okay. You know, I'm here to offer my support for the Democrat having

so I'm here to offer my support to the Democrats candidates

and I understand that we have had to overcome many of these grievances misunderstandings brought everybody here and I'm you know I'm glad that we're married also like any good family we have our differences whatever you but at the end of the day today. We want to stay united. We want to make sure that we move forward to our agenda. So, please, if we can, you know, Senator, I appreciate you guys answering the questions. Glad you're still here standing up and answering them. But really truly, like any family, you know, we're we're as siblings, we're going to have our differences, but at the end of the day, we want to be able to come back together and move forward.

### **Governor Lou:**

Exactly. And and you're right. Do you think I want to have a Republican administration?

### **Audience:**

No. Oh, no.

### **Audience:**

We do not.

### **Audience:**

Absolutely not.

### **Party Member:**

And you are the candidate now. We congratulated you, but we have some real misgivings about what has happened in the past.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

If I may say something, go ahead.

### **Party Member:**

You know, uh, Senator,

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

I'm totally okay, but I'm asking you. This is not what we came before.

### **Governor Lou:**

We don't think you can resolve your misgivings unless you're going to ask ending to be fair on your giving. I'm not happy to do that.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

It's not a misgiv. But you keep repeating that to the people. Of course, that's how they're going to feel.

### **Governor Lou:**

I am not repeating that because you you said that to them, but it's not true.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

It's like a family that we're going to get together and all of a sudden we're going to say everything we got hurt by or didn't like about one person or another

### **Party Member (Lifelong Democrat):**

in the defense of my family.

### **Party Member (Lifelong Democrat):**

My family too because I am a lifelong Democrat. Maybe someone stronger than many.

### **Party Member (Lifelong Democrat):**

I believe we also have every right to express our frustration over the years, the lack of the lack of commitment, the lack of dedication, and the lack of loyalty. You know, I'm a Democrat and I am loyal to this party through thick or thin. It doesn't matter, ma'am. And I have a lot of respect for you. I voted for you twice, you know. Um, and I have a lot of respect for you. However, I have respect respect for my governor as well.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

So do I. And I always have.

### **Party Member (Lifelong Democrat):**

And if if the head of the Democratic Party says something, my loyalty to the party, to my governor, I will fall in line. And that's not going to compromise my morals. It won't compromise my values and it won't compromise my integrity because I know the head of my party will not lead us astray. The head of the party will lead us in the right direction. Over the years, the the last four years, I've seen a lot of man, it hurts. It hurts cuz I've seen a lot of fighting back and forth and I want unity. I do not want a Republican governor administration. I do not want Republican senatorial candidates to to to take over. Otherwise, we're going to to seek mistakes I permeate through our very island and we don't want that. We want to stick with the morals, values and standards that we were raised up with

### **Party Member (Lifelong Democrat):**

and that is respecting our mahagas whoever is in charge. You would want the same respect afforded to you.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

I want respect but I do not want blanket following any one of these senators who have put their own lives on the line their families to run. I want them to act as independently as possible to to base things on the merits.

### **Party Member:**

Yes.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

And that's all I ask.

### **Party Member:**

You said independence.

### **Party Member:**

On the merits you said Yes, you would like them to react independently on the merits. However, there are certain limitations because people have different set of opinions, different views. The goal is to come to a mediation, come to a middle understanding that there are things that we have a mutual agreement on

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

particularly like exactly what you said, exactly what the governor said, exactly why we do not want a Republican to take over, why we do want a Democrat majority in the legisle. That's exactly why because there are principles that we are following not people principles. That's what I want all of us to follow. I'm not asking for your blanket loyalty. That's up to you. And if you want any grievance, you can come talk to me. But I'm asking that we just be united on some basic principles. And these are the Democrat party principles.

### **Meeting Chair / Moderator:**

Thank you.

### **Meeting Chair / Moderator:**

Thank you. Guys, so again we understand that potentially more questions. We do not uh I did not advise u the two candidates to be grilled and real. If you have a comment just keep it short and simple. We don't want any kind of uh severe reactions coming back. Okay. Thank you for still being here and you know if you're still open to ask question that's

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

I don't mind being asking questions but I don't like to be criticized of things that you don't want to hear the details of my response. And I don't want personal attacks either.

### **Meeting Chair / Moderator:**

I don't

### **Party Member / Speaker:**

We're not here for personal attacks. We are here because we want to be united and we want a Democrat administration and a Democrat majority. It is very difficult. Uh Senator um we're struggling. We are struggling. to come to some reconciliation because the legislature has in the last 8 years been totally adverse to this administration.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Yeah,

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

that's another statement.

### **Party Member / Speaker:**

I am I am speaking I am speaking

### **Dialogue Friction:**

but I am speaking and you have your time. No, I don't want to have a debate. We're not debate you not debating on our opponent. I want to I am not debating. I am stating what our party is trying to reconcile. That's what it states. Because if we're going to go out to support you, we want to make sure we support you and committed to you.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Yes.

### **Party Member / Speaker:**

But there are some really hard concerns we have to deal with.

### **Party Member / Speaker:**

I don't know how we deal with it. But there has been much tension and adversity. As speaker, you know, we've been friends for many, many, many, many years. We've been friends. We've gone through so many things and challenges when I was senator and so forth. I just don't understand how that became dis All I can think of is when I became governor, I through evidence hardly had any support down there in the legislature in a Democrat majority.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Governor, we make general statements. It's not we can't defend those all night. Yes, I will make statements. I've never had your support. That's wrong.

### **Governor Lou:**

Theres I've asked you to please support the legislation to bypass the AG so it can move forward with the infrastructure laid down in Manila. I have asked you to vote for a democratic budget. No. I have asked you I have asked you to support the land at Adica from Manila. No. you have

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

that's correct.

### **Governor Lou:**

That is correct. Yes, you're right. You didn't tell me why for any of that.

### **Governor Lou:**

And then when I open the TV and watch so everybody hears this.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

We're going to have a debate where this is not our opponent. This is why the Democrat party is going to lose. We are going to debate each other and we cannot move forward. There should be a time that the lieutenant governor asked for healing. Let that happen. If you have still things to talk. Let's do it.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Personally, if you want to ask me any questions, I am open.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

But if we're going to publicly fight, then that's a whole other thing. That's

### **Governor Lou:**

that's not at all.

### **Governor Lou:**

This is not a public fight.

### **Governor Lou:**

It's you airing all your personal grievances and claiming they are the Democrat party's grievances.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

They are the Democratic Party. We just had an election. And we're now it's a time for us to move forward. So, I'm asking you to find a way to move forward. If you need to talk to me personally, let's do that. If we need to heal, let's do that. If we need to yell at me, let's do that. But I'm asking for all of you who do not have a personal grievance with me to look at what we are running for, what we want to do for the Democrats. We want to support these Democrat senators. That's what we're here for is to pledge our support for them. That That's why we are here and so I want to do that. I want them to be successful. Convince me to convince me to support you because all along you always talk about unity but there was very unity.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Well, that's because we had principles, right? And I'm asking you now to unite on principles.

### **Governor Lou:**

And so all of a sudden you're saying

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

I don't say that. I said I respect that the lieutenant governor said he is going to ask for a time for healing which should happen instead of a debate he's going to ask for a time and a time to move forward and I respect that and I will honor that and I want to do that but if there's personal grievances that's something different we need to take on personal

### **Governor Lou / Speaker Terresa Loi (Dialogue Turn):**

there well there are some yes it's not personal I'm just saying because I don't I always So I have been right. You know I support my Democratic party. So I see you know you were never united with us. That's not true at all. No you were so anti. That's not true at all.

### **Governor Lou / Speaker Terresa Loi (Back-and-forth):**

That's what they convinced you. That's not

Oh no. No way. No way. that way, right?

I'm sorry. You know, I kind of respect me.

Talk to me respectfully. He's going to go off now. That's not what I'm here for.

So, I'm going to speak.

I'm here for them.

Oh, so you don't need me.

I'm here for these Democrat senators who are supposed the one that's going to get you elected, right?

No, because I want to be elected. I want Mr. I know that you don't like me. I know that don't like your name.

You want to say what did I say to you? You guys San Francisco.

### **Governor Lou:**

Why did you tell me a jingle?

### **Governor Lou:**

That's all I was looking for.

### **Governor Lou:**

Let me tell you something. I'm not going to stop.

### **Governor Lou:**

I was invited to come here and I'm here as a Democrat.

### **Governor Lou:**

No matter Hold on. Hold on.

### **Governor Lou:**

So this this is not a personal issue.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Exactly.

### **Governor Lou:**

It is not.

### **Governor Lou:**

It's an issue of governance. It's an issue of principle. It's an issue of yes political political issues and challenges. People are not saying this to you because they don't like you or they like you.

### **Governor Lou:**

They're they're they have seen the history. Serious. They have seen the history and you are asking us to support you. I'm telling you, we want to support you.

### **Governor Lou:**

But they have to reconcile issues in their mind of why they should be commitment because they didn't see that commitment from a Democrat majority. That is not personal, Theres. It is not personal. It is evidence, facts. So, how do we move forward? How do we move forward to win a Democrat gubernatorial candidate and a Democrat senatorial candidate? How do we do that? They need and you also need to be convinced that we are going to support you because I'll tell you our phones are ringing.

### **Governor Lou:**

They're ringing and uh I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

### **Governor Lou:**

I don't want to lose a Democrat majority and I don't want to lose a Democrat government. We have moved so many good things during our administration. And you may not believe that, but we have. We have. And as governor, I just want to say that at times I do not get support from our Democrat senators down there. I did not. That's not personal. It's not personal. when when when our Democrat senators want to work together, it's not working. So, what is it that is going to make us convinced that we will follow and vote? I we need to hear that from you. We need to hear that from you. Okay. So, let us hear from you. I'm not going to bait you, brother. So, if you want me, I'm happy to take the floor and say what I have to say, but you're very welcome because I have respect for you. We don't need to have a public debate. I am going to have all of these private conversations. publicly debating. I'm stating No, I'm not. I am stating the fact influence everyone.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

These people have their own minds and their own opinions over and all of the grievances that you have, you can bring to me. You cannot vote for me. You probably didn't vote for me if you have felt that way. And that's fine. I'm asking you today, do you want to unite on certain things? That's what I'm not willing to do. I'm willing to unite to support the candidates. I thought that's what

but they never they had supported the lieutenant governor had asked for and I wanted to make sure everybody knows's what I want to and I'm going to work for that and I'm going to make that and you know what I'm personal attacks to make my corruption to me that's how we live we're going to live with disagreements Senators disagree with each other. That's fine. That doesn't mean we're not Democrats anymore because we don't personally agree with each other on every item. That's never meant we'not Democrats. Some of the Democrats in our history are the most controversial ever. That's not what Democrat means to blindly follow anyone.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres) & Audience Member:**

Are you asking me or you don't? So, first I think I think maybe what a lot of folks would like to hear is, you know, have you considered um the possibility of absorbing the other two camps that didn't make it into your campaign? And have you spoken to any of them to maybe bring us together? Or is it your mindset that your campaign group is the group that's going to take over whatever it is we want as Democrats? want it at all. I want unity and I told the lieutenant governor that and I I we have been speaking. So, same thing with Senator Augustine and uh I don't see any impediment to that except maybe this this type of becomes an impediment to bring into a space where it does not belong.

### **Audience Member / Speaker:**

So, I guess you're asking my question that you have plans to bring others into to sit down and form one group to bring us Democrats together. We're all going to need some concessions

and that you being an attorney and being in front of judges should understand that you're going to have to maybe get some things done that might not be your favor, but there are some things that take care of and maybe that moving forward here today is understanding how we're going to bring those champion people from the other two into yours and how do you make that work because I want to tell you if we from both parties we get together nobody will beat us but that is what we need to do and and finding a unique way to do that so our everyone who gets at the end of the day. Guess who's going to be governor of the Democrats with you? You and your leader and you need good strong people in there to support you. We need you to look at everyone in here and understand that we all bring something for you. Now, I didn't get everything I wanted when the administration was sitting, but I still continue to do the good thing for the veterans. I didn't get everything I wanted from the legislature, but as a nonprofit and bringing the veterans together. We still exist till today and we do not want to piss off those veterans. And here's my thought. If we can get them behind us, that's what we want. We want to hit all the issues, not all of them. But coming together is what we need to do. And we need to do that soon because I'm telling you, the Republicans are planning a strategy to tear us apart. And if we don't sit here today, at least today, alone.

### **Governor Lou:**

They would love this. They would love this personal area.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Give me the leaders from those two camps. Bring them here.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

They're not here, right?

### **Governor Lou / Representative:**

I'm here. I am here. I am the one that's here.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Yes.

### **Governor Lou / Representative:**

And I have come here very humbly.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Yes.

### **Governor Lou / Representative:**

As thanking you first of all and pledging my support to bring in these Democrat candidates. Not of them have asked me to do that but I am volunteering to do that. We are volunteering to do that. We want to do that because we know that is better for Guam and that's what we want and we want all of us to and that's why we're up and um I don't want to speak for anyone else in their camp and that what you're describing but of course that's that's what we hope that's what we work for that's what we work for and I don't think destructiveness.

### **Audience Member / Speaker:**

Do you want people to bring them to you?

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Okay.

### **Audience Member / Speaker:**

Why do you say that?

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

Because I'd love to bring them and say, "Let's go over here." That's what I want to do because I want to see that support behind me. You understand where I'm coming from?

### **Audience Member / Speaker:**

Of course.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

And they might not like me. I'm not the gogetter, but I'm here to tell I feel like I'm the one when I won.

If they are scared of what they told me so far, that should happen naturally and it's going to happen. So that's that's what I that's I'm not going to speak for them, but I'm just going to say that's what they represented to me. So, I absolutely hope so and I am going to work for them. But before that, I'm working for this. I want to just I really wanted to assure them because that's the best that I have heard after the election. The Democrat party said chair said we need to make sure we have a Democrat majority in the legislature and I heard the lieutenant governor say the same thing and I wanted to say it very personally straight to them that that's exactly what and that not just want or hope, but I'm going to work for them. That's why I'm here to say that to you and them. Keep going to them for we're just going to have one more question asked by you who's been raising your can just keep it short and sweet if possible. Please make a comment. Okay, I need to heal as well. Okay, whatever the governor's appointment against this administration is your comment. This is my comment, my observation. my time. I gave everybody a chance to speak here. So, please respect my time speak short. Okay. The governor is working. We have a Democrat administration. We have Democratic majority in the legislature, but then the support was not there. And I hear you tonight that you want unity and that you want the Democrat governor, which we want as Well, and we want a Democrat majority in legislature, which we want as well, but we want to make sure that that Democrat majority will work well with you because we didn't see it the last 8 years and speaker is there was a contest between the Democrats and Republicans. And it was obvious that they wanted to change leadership at that time. You went to the Republican side and become speaker.

### **Audience Member / Speaker:**

This is a fact. Okay. So what we're saying in here is that how are we going to be able to trust you to move forward that yes you will continue the legacy of our governor and build that house. And I think that is my personal decision. Okay. And the last thing I want to point out is the only thing that I do bring this fire together is to just publicly apologize to all of us for the last 8 years apology. If you cannot do that I will you support you in the general election and I will do that. I don't support you. I know because at least I know where you stand on issues versus or you get everybody happy. Okay. So that is my comment. Thank you for listening and and thank you everybody for for being here. And again if we're going to talk about unity uh you know let's talk unity and and uh you know we just need to continue the era where we're at when we say Speak quicks up. We're coming up. We did promise at 6:15 we're going to end up very time.

### **Speaker Terresa Loi (Theres):**

I appreciate everything that everyone has said tonight. I think uh you know you you have to understand as things were going along that uh there were two sides sometimes two different things issue by issue, merits on the merits. And I don't act on personal basis. I always try to act on the merits. And I don't think that the current administration would have got half as much of what it did succeed in without a success at the legislature as well. So there were so many things that we did agree on, so many things that we agreed on that we also pushed, that we also funded, but when you opened up all of that because of the one agreement that you disagreement that you remember or the two or the three I'm the same or the 20

### **Governor Lou, Speaker Terresa Loi, & Party Elder:**

I don't know what you're talking about because I only remember three but uh there may be more sure but if you listen you would have known my rationale for every time I voted differently or anything And let me tell you something. When these guys get ready to do their caucus, if I'm the governor, I am not interfering with their caucus. So there's always two sides to every story that you might have heard. And if you don't hear the facts from the people straight, then I can ask you to reconsider your very strong opinions on some things unless you've actually heard the facts straight from the people who live through them, who vote one way or another, and ask them why not listen to the press. said they came out knocking us or anything like that just really getting out to the moving forward actively debate that she's talking with each other last one please. Thank you. I wanted to congratulate the Democratic party obviousation. It does come with a lot of conration. I said this, you know, during my time in often and I've said this to a number of people uh but the the biggest lesson I learned and this is something for you uh uh group governor to be after is that the lesson I learned was that a politician never stands so tall as when they stoop to kiss an ass. That's a very searing thought. This is really not just a time for men. It's a time finance. These people all worked hard for something and they worked hard and they put their their energy into it and they came up short. I know that feeling. I know that feeling in a very searing way. But at the end of the day, that feeling had to go away and give way to something else. But the victim in your case, Senator Senator You have a special responsibility to go more than 50%. You might think that this is a time that we're all just going to shake hands. They're all going to I I I can say without hesitation that 90% of the people in this room are going to end up voting for you. I think that's my hunch because that's where their heads are at. Whether they're going to vote for you enthusiastically or whether you're going to plan the campaigns as pointed out by Mr. Tyler whe You're going to make efforts at the not at the political level but at the personal level personal effort in order to make this campaign come real. Uh Governor Lou and you know I've known both of you know did a marvelous job as governor and faced a lot of obstacles. I had a lot of disagreements with her and she know that the lady wrote a letter saying this is a personal dream about her credit and to my credit at the end of the day you have to kind of reach that peak in your kind of But the the obligation the owners is actually I think more on the the the winners the winners can be more magnanimous the losers can sit back and say oh you know but in this case Josh didn't do that he extended his hand and so now this is that opportunity so you know there's going to be and I recommend there's going to be dozens of phone calls that are going to be made. And those phone calls better be, you know, the the two words in tomorrow that come to mind is committing. That's that's humble. You know, when you it's not just a word you my my most humble sentiment. I'm coming to you to race and Sabina cannot win. Without the Democrats,

### **Party Elder (Continuing):**

they just can't. Those guys on the other side, they're pretty good. They're pretty clever. They're going to divide. They're going to offer. They're already offering people these room jobs. So, you know, Don't forget the congressional delegate was formulated. You could have ignored the racial race and lots of people did. She she failed in some district. She only got 60% of the voters. She was running out of votes. So there's that. But that's something for all of us to come to terms with. And you know, it's like trying to remember why we are Democrats. One, all of the programs that are sent to this island were started by Democrats nationally and locally. every effort to take away programs was initiated by Republicans. That is true. So we have to kind of put that into context and that is a political message we can make. But I have to slightly disagree that it's not to make the difference between personal and political because there's always personal. Politics can be very personal.

### **Party Elder & Jake:**

So there's going to be an opportunity. I think I I certainly urge the main candidates to take every advantage of that opportunity. It takes a certain sense of courage to go into the lion's den. I don't ever want to face mountain. So I think we're fortunate that we are led by women and led by women. I already am. I want I want to understand that because that's really uh critical to to understand. So thank you very much. You know, I I I hear a lot of what the people in the saying, you know, as a Democrat myself, I am reconciling with those same things because right now I am absolutely going to vote for Speaker Terresa Loi for govern but I don't do it enthusiastically for a lot of the same reasons you do. I do it as honor. In my time in the 37th legislature, I saw that Senator Turi ran clean ship.

### **Jake (Continuing):**

I got no but in year one of a Republican controlled legislature year what they are doing selfdeing to their parties with these ridiculous AI contracts and I know if we elect that person to ad we're going to see that same selfdeing on year one so I'm absolutely pulling the lever for Senator Tali as a form of harm reduction and the people are asking how do we reconcile so that it's not just harm reduction how are we doing it so that we are enthusiastically supporting senator You know, we need to some see some sort of our community. And if you're asking me what what Jake needs to go from harm reduction to being an enthusiastic supporter to someone who knocks on doors, who will stop for Governor Tani in the future. What I want is I want to see a continuity of plan. I want to see justification. If you were to come out and publicly support a hospital in any of our students, continue our governor's work. I will be kind of done.

### **Jake & Meeting Chair:**

So I never want to go into a problem without proposing a solution. My problem is I feel a lot of how these people in this room feel bet the trade. And if you want to bury my action, continue our government's work and I will just call for arm reduction. I will be your support. all the way. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Okay, because of time, we're going to go ahead and wrap this up. I want to first take the opportunity to thank first senator for coming out. You guys exactly want to commit the people Senator Senator Senator recogniz Thanks for being here, sir. Thank you again for our party for contributing to the process of us just voicing our fingers. So I think I think we all agree with guys. I knew this very well when I first took over this chairmanship. I first told you guys I never done this before. I never I don't know what to expect of myself. I knew though that coming forward right after the primary is where I would forgive.

### **Meeting Chair (Continuing):**

That's why I called for this meeting because I really wanted us to all come together. Uh I want to make sure that we end up with a Democrat Governor, a Democrat delegate and majority of the United States are man 15 and I know my work now is starting and I'm really asking for all of us to please come together. I know we have our little uh differences or what have you, but let's go back to why we are meeting Democrats. Let's look at the very root. I know I'm a Democrat because I come from a very poor family, but I love to help those that are disadvantaged, mentally challenged, and underserved. And for the most part, that's what most of us have been. So I know there going to be some guilies about whatever some somewhere back in history. But I'm asking for us to put closure in our hearts. Let's all come together for the common cause. We're all here because we represent the people with within your respective villages. I do too.

### **Meeting Chair (Continuing):**

It makes it a bit hard because I'm a mayor myself and there's other mayors that are here. But I want to also recognize Mayor DJ is here. We have here

### **Meeting Chair (Continuing):**

Santaita. So, we do have a very good representation of Democrats here as well. So, of course, I'm going to do my due diligence having my little conversation with the mayor group. I know that everybody else and I'm asking all of you to please like sister said, "Let's start knocking out knocking on doors. We definitely need generators of your so I want to take that sponsor in my own asking all of you to please help us out. We definitely want to garner I'm sorry to be as well. Thank you for being here as well. I just want to extend our appreciation to our teacher head party. Please do not run out and I also want to recognize Mayor Rock here for location. I just want to also do a quick offering. Our next CDC meeting is going to be office. It will be at our headquarters which is at the cafe right next to us. And so before we begin our our talk and how we work together to start pushing the materials to our governor, our delegate and our senators as well. So with that said, Okay, there's a motion.

A CRAZY CASE AND PASTORAL COWARDLINESS

 By Tim Rohr

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒: 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐆𝐀𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐋’𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐂𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐀 $𝟐,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐏𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘

McKenna West’s surrogacy contract with Los Angeles couple Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar is now part of the public court record — and it reads like a corporate price sheet for a human life. Signed August 29, 2025, the agreement laid out 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲, including a $2,000 payout that only kicked in if the pregnancy had to be terminated.

West was set to collect $6,000 a month for ten months, plus a $5,000 bonus for a C-section — the termination payout was smaller than either. When she refused to end the pregnancy of a baby later diagnosed with a life-threatening heart defect, West says in her own court filing that she was warned she could owe 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 $𝟐𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 for breaking the agreement.

West also claims in her filing that the biological parents tried to 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 by booking her into a Holiday Inn Express in Washington State for the abortion. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭.

The biological parents, according to the court filing, 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘤𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘺 — the month she refused to end the pregnancy. West gave birth to Gabriel in Dallas on August 12, after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got publicly involved and pro-life advocate Lila Rose helped get her to a state with some of the nation’s strongest protections for unborn life. Gabriel is now in his biological parents’ custody, receiving NICU care for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with the next hearing set for August 25.

𝐀 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐌𝐜𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 $𝟐𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎.

This is a crazy case, but maybe not so crazy, and probably not uncommon, given the very common occurrence of surrogacy: a woman agreeing to gestate and give birth to a child, conceived by two other persons, usually in a laboratory. 

One crazy note in this from an ABC News story:

“West is harming Rumi by relocating to Texas, requiring him to be born in Texas, away from his parents and the specialized cardiac team in Los Angeles that will provide his lifelong care,” the court filing states. 

Can't make this up. The biological parents who wanted the child killed in the womb because their baby wasn't perfect is suing the surrogate mother for "harming" the child by first, giving birth to him "away from his parents" and away from a supposed "cardiac team in Los Angeles," where, if she had gone there prior to his birth, there would be no baby to to have given "care" to.

This is the evil underbelly of in vitro fertilization. And this is why the Catholic Church formally holds:

2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses' "right to become a father and a mother only through each other."

Sadly, most Catholics don't know this. And even sadder still, they don't know this because their pastors are too cowardly to teach it. 

AND HE CAN'T DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT

By Tim Rohr

Going further (from the previous post), his letter was an insult. If you notice, he names all the groups, ministries, and other ecclesial realities on this island, but there is no issue with any of them except the NCW.  

So this did not need to be a diocesan-wide, public letter. It should have been a letter between Jimenez and the arch-Neocats who run the thing. If there were to be any letter at all to the rest of us, there should have been one stating that Jimenez had secured the Neocats' cooperation on whatever he was asking for. But instead, Jimenez issues a pastoral letter to the entire diocese whining about what he is "inviting" them to do. Why?

Because he's checking a box. 

He knows he has to do something. In fact, he knows he has to either publicly enforce Archbishop Byrnes's moratorium or publicly rescind it. He knows he has to do something about the Neocats propping up Luis Camacho on an altar last Easter. He knows he has to do something about the illegitimate "Masses" at their headquarters in Asan. He knows he has to do something about the priests who blatantly violate church law and celebrate those Masses in an unconsecrated space. And he knows he has to do something about the three Neocat priests who openly snubbed him, their fellow clergy, and the visiting Apostolic Nuncio at their recent clergy meeting. 

Per Frenchie:

...during said visit by our Nuncio, he led a meeting with the clergy and the religious orders of Guam to get their feedback on the situation of the relations with the Neocatecumenal Way. Attending this meeting were the Archbishop, the members of the Chancery representatives, as well as the parishes' priests and permanent deacons and members of the religious orders. Among the priests present were the three presbyters actually on island at this time.

There were several presentations about different issues, with questions and answers. When it came to the subject of the relations with the NCW,  the three presbyters in question got up, left, and never came back.

This is why I titled my last post: THE ANSWER IS "NO" AND "SCREW YOU." That is exactly what they said by their actions when they walked out of the clergy meeting with the Nuncio. And so Jimenez responds with a little letter begging them to cooperate during next year's Easter Vigil. GEEZ! SMH!

Jimenez's actions regarding the Neo bring back memories of Archbishop Hon, when he was the Apostolic Administrator of Guam. Hon was the secretary to the Congregation headed by the arch-Neocat Cardinal: Filoni. 

From the intel we were receiving from inside the chancery at the time, Hon was often on the phone with Filoni and shouting in Italian. Filoni, who was in bed with Kiko and the Gennarinis, wanted Hon to shut us up and save the Neocats. 

Hon was up against pressures Filoni couldn't have imagined because, by that time, the CCOG, LFM, and JW were major forces, AND we were pressing for the legislation that would help us clean up our church. We didn't want to do it that way, but it became clear after Hon took over that the church, aka Filoni, was backing the Neocats... and Apuron. 

They, Filoni and Hon, left us no option. We had to press for the legislation, which in effect allowed us to sue ourselves (since we are the church and the money behind it), so we could rid ourselves of the decades-old "filth in the church," specifically the Neocats' bishop.

Now we have a new Neocat bishop. And he has made it clear with this measly little letter - issued for no other reason than to check a box and hope that we are too stupid to know what is really going on: Jimenez walking the tightrope to Rome, a rope held at least on one end by the Neocats.

We've been here and done that. And we're "mad as hell, and we aren't going to take it anymore."

BTW, that the three Neocat presbyters so easily mocked and snubbed the Apostolic Nuncio, Rome's man in this region, is very telling: the Neocats know they are not under the authority of the normal Catholic Church hierarchy. This is something we already know. They are a parallel church and have long since had their own hierarchy. They take their marching orders from their Neocat Brass, not the diocesan bishop, not even the Apostolic Nuncio. That's why they could walk out with impunity. And Jimenez can't do a damn thing about it. That's what his letter demonstrated. 

THE ANSWER IS "NO" AND "SCREW YOU"

- Blackbeard to Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: "On Stranger Tides."

It's not like we didn't know it. We've been saying it even before he took the job. And we knew it because we know the Neocat Brass is still pulling all the strings in this archdiocese. 

Jimenez knows he owes his career to them, and he also knows he owes his next job, a cushy job in Rome, to the same. However, he knows that in order to get that cushy job in Rome - his next step in his ecclesial career - he has to perform.

Meanwhile, Jimenez has a problem. People, especially people who pay attention to JungleWatch, are watching, and watching very warily. 

Many of us paid a huge, if not terrible, price to clean up the disaster wreaked on this diocese by the Neocats, especially their disgusting attempts to shield and save Apuron at the expense of the countless children who their bishop (Apuron)* either personally ruined or who were ruined on his watch - a true reign of psychological and sexual terror on our most vulnerable: our children.

*By the way, Jimenez should note, though he probably already knows, that the Neos still regard Apuron as their bishop. They rejected the authority of Archbishop Byrnes, the Administrator, Convocar, and they would reject Jimenez's authority as well if he ever tried to assert it. But they know he won't. And today's "Pastoral Letter" - which we will get to - proves it. 

Let's recall the monster the Neocats were protecting - and still are:

I was only 12 years old when I was raped by Father Apuron. I was an Alter (sic) Boy for my village in Agat. Being an Alter (sic) Boy motivated my desires to serve God and to become a priest. I may have been young, but I knew that was my calling. 

In the evening of April 16, 1977, I spent the night in the rectory with Father Anthony to help prepare the church for Sunday services. Father Anthony and I had dinner in the rectory. After dinner, I helped Father Anthony wash the dishes. After cleaning up the dirty dishes, I went into the living room, sat on the lazy boy chair, and watched TV for a little bit. I started to feel tired and sleepy. I pulled the handle of the lazy boy and got it to recline. As I was lying on the lazy boy chair. Father Anthony Apuron came into the living room and asked me if I was ready to go to sleep. I told him yes and that I was going to sleep on the lazy boy chair. He said no, and he insisted I sleep in the bedroom with him. I said, " Okay, Father. 

Sometime late that night or early morning I woke up feeling something or someone on top of me, smothering me, and I felt something going in me, and it was hurting me. I was pinned down to the bed on my stomach with my legs spread apart. I could not move. I could not move my arms or my legs. I was pinned down. I felt something going in me, and it hurt so much. 

I shouted out to please stop. I kept shouting, and I tried to move, but all I could feel was him on top of me, thrusting something in me. He told me it would be alright. He finally stopped, and he lay down on me like he was resting. He got off me, and I immediately got off the bed. I was crying and breathing hard. 

I could feel my butt was all wet. I asked him why you did that to me. I kept asking why. He said if I said anything to anyone, no one will believe me. That night had changed my life forever. It had changed my direction in life. 

- Walter Denton, June 27, 2016, Testimony in favor of Bill 326-33 before the Guam Legislature (The full testimony is here.)

A few months ago, Apuron's Neocat handlers trotted him out in front of a camera to proclaim his innocence after his accusers, the plaintiffs, represented by the office of Lujan and Wolff, finally dismissed their cases after ten years of delay, delay, delay. The plaintiffs had no path forward. The suit was not criminal; it was civil. It was a suit for damages: money. And Apuron, given ten years to get rid of his assets, had none. 

I'm sure it pained Jimenez to have to say something that damaged his stock with the Neocats, and if not for our searing posts on JungleWatch about Apuron's lies, he might have said nothing. However, with the spotlight on him, Jimenez had to say something, so he referred to the Vatican verdict: APURON GUILTY.

Today, Jimenez issued a "Pastoral Letter," which, after several paragraphs of mumbling "words like fog" about unity and synodality, all aimed at dusting off the Neocats, he finally gets to what he's actually asking them to do:

"I invite them to celebrate the Sacred Triduum, especially the Easter Vigil, together with the wider parish community..."

He doesn't require them - as Catholic Church law already requires, he squeakily "invites" them. 

Ummm, Archbishop, in case you didn't already know, their answer is NO. In fact, it's NO and SCREW YOU - which has been their position on everything for decades.

ARCHBISHOP JIMENEZ INCARDINATES MSGR. RUBEN ESPENO

 

The following was received from an anonymous contributor:

One might want to ask why the Archbishop selectively picks and chooses which incardinated priests are published by way of an Aviso.  There have been several priests incardinated that he did not publish. He had them incardinated without an Aviso. He did it quietly. Even the priests in Guam were not informed of the incardination. 

What is he hiding? And why do it quietly? Just ask the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, where he incardinated priests from the Philippines and no one knew till he left Saipan for Guam. The entire diocese was shocked by the revelation.  

They only learned about it when he brought the priest to Saipan and introduced him to Bishop Convocar. And guess what? The priest had no intention of serving in Saipan. He departed Saipan with Archbishop Jimenez.

PRIEST PUBLICLY EMBARRASSES 12-YEAR OLD CHILD AT GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S FUNERAL

Submitted to JungleWatch

Yesterday, during my father’s funeral Mass, Father Felixberto C. Leon Guerrero interrupted the service to publicly call out my 12-year-old granddaughter, who was standing near the back of the church while watching her 1-year-old sister and looking at the memorial boards. He stated that she was “dancing” and told her that if she was not going to pay attention, she should leave the church.

If she was making dance-like movements, I am certain she was not putting on a dance performance or doing a “TikTok” in the middle of my father’s funeral Mass. She is a 12-year-old child who was grieving, helping watch her baby sister, and moving around near the back of the church. Children do not always sit completely still, and they process grief and emotions differently from adults.

What happened was deeply upsetting and, in my opinion, completely inappropriate. My granddaughter was publicly embarrassed in front of everyone during an already painful and emotional day for our family. She was humiliated, became extremely upset, and left crying because of the way she was singled out.

This was my father’s funeral Mass—a time when our family needed compassion, comfort, understanding, and pastoral care. I struggle to understand how publicly humiliating a 12-year-old child, especially during her great-grandfather’s funeral, reflects the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Church should be a place where people, especially children, feel welcomed, loved, and safe—not shamed or made to feel that they do not belong.

She was standing in the back, helping watch her 1-year-old sister and looking at the memorial boards honoring her great-grandfather. Even if Father Leon Guerrero believed her behavior was distracting, there were compassionate and respectful ways to address the situation without interrupting a funeral Mass and publicly calling out a grieving child.

No child should leave a church feeling humiliated, rejected, or as though she was being told she did not belong there. Jesus welcomed children with love and compassion. As Catholics, I believe our actions toward others, especially children and grieving families, should reflect those same teachings.

What should have been a sacred and comforting final farewell to my father is now also remembered as the moment my granddaughter was publicly embarrassed during his funeral Mass. I cannot understand how that was necessary, compassionate, or acceptable.

MEANWHILE THE NEOS ARE CONTINUING UNABETTED WITH THEIR LACK OF RESPECT.

 Posted by Frenchie.

In my previous post, I questioned what would the Nuncio (who recently visited our Diocese) think about the fact that our Archbishop was not discerning enough, or was poorly advised by his "executive secretary", to avoid the basic common sense of not being seen in the company of controversial individuals or being put in a position of compromise.

This reminded me in passing that during said visit by our Nuncio, he led a meeting with the clergy and the religious orders of Guam to get their feedback on the situation of the relations with the Neocatecumenal Way. Attending this meeting were the Archbishop, the members of the Chancery representatives as well as the parishes' priests and permanent deacons and members of the religious orders. Among the priests present were the three presbyters actually on island at this time.

There were several presentations about different issues, with questions and answers. When it came to the subject of the relations with the NCW,  the three presbyters in question got up, left and never came back.

To this day, no one knows what measures the Archbishop took as the leader of this Diocese, or as the Vicar of the Clergy, a role he assumed in May. This type of open rebellion against their own Bishop in front of the Nuncio, cannot be simply excused. It should at minimum be addressed amongst the parties present at that brotherly meeting. Again, and this is becoming a disturbing trend we end with more questions than answers.

When will Archbishop Jimenez take the bull by the horns and address the 800 Lb gorilla in the room.

We are anxiously waiting .

This is specially critical before the return of the most destabilizing current member of the NCW clergy on Guam: Fr Harold who has apparently found a solution to his immigration status.  If nothing is done about these open slights, after two years leading the Archdiocese of Agana, people will certainly start to question the abilities of our most recent Archbishop.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE?

Posted by Frenchie.

Between Kandit news and Tim's revelations since the posting of the Scintilla's picture, apparently taken over the weekend in Manilla, many questions have surfaced about the motivation behind Archbishop Jimenez presumed "chance" meeting with the Tenorio Clan.

One person that is front and center in the damning portrait, is Connie Shinohara, the oddly promoted executive secretary of the Archbishop, who in theory should advise the Archbishop on the inherent risks he would be facing in rubbing elbows in public (even in distanced locations) with certain individuals who are in the limelight for whatever reason. In this case we are talking about the current Lt Governor, an unabashed advocate of GLBTQ rights and a strong supporter of the evil euphemism: "a woman's right to choose" the moniker for the murder of unborn babies, both issues being considered as scandalous by the Church.

The question is then, why would the executive secretary not protect her boss the Archbishop from the obvious communication nightmare we are witnessing? The follow-up question is why the Archbishop, a fairly intelligent individual would allow himself to be influenced negatively by said executive secretary?

This is certainly not the type of behavior expected from someone whose stated ambition is to serve the Church in Rome. I wonder what our new Nuncio might make out this kerfuffle?

It is a well known fact that Connie Shinohara is very close to Josh Tenorio. Perhaps she is the whisperer in the ear of Jimenez, in which case this would be catastrophic, but would explain many things. Her previous gig, having been at the Port Authority, managing the "Port seven" dossier, which led to the re-instatement of very flawed employees that had been terminated. The whole thing being a glimpse into the corruption of the democratic party machine and the port authority, under the guise of righting a wrong. But what is more troubling with Connie is how intertwined she was with the still not totally resolved scandal of the house of liberty game rooms, which is also being litigated by the feds. These issues should have been red flags for the Chancery.

Enters the new twist in the story: the very controversial and unpredictable Matthew Blockley. Many people affirm that Blockley and the volatile Tony Sgro are acquittances. It is interesting to note that the accusations against Josh and Matthew (Topasna) have popped up in Kandit, since a certain well known car dealership very close to Tina has been such a good sponsor of Kandit News, and that Blockley has fed Kandit with his somewhat one sided report. There is apparently a lot more to the story.

To recap, we have our Archbishop and his executive secretary whose primary goal should be to protect her employer travelling to Manilla, who "accidently" meet with the Tenorio Clan (most of them under federal indictment). Just this, is a public relation nightmare. So far this has not appeared to rattle many people at the Chancery.

We have two loose canons hovering over the whole disaster: Matthew Blockley and Tony Sgro, with agendas still undisclosed at this time. Still when your reputation is : where they go, trouble follow; we should be attentive at what is going to be revealed sooner or later.

Finally we have the current Lt Governor, who does not need any more controversy at this time embroiled in something which appear to be very frustrating.

The last question being therefore: Who is influencing whom and for what purpose?

WHO I WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR

By Tim Rohr

I was off-island for the primary, and, frankly, I wasn't motivated enough by any candidate to go out of my way to vote early. 

However, if I were a Democrat, and I'm not, I would have voted for Tenorio, for no other reason than he just seems to be the more reasonable and approachable of the three Democratic candidates.

I am a registered Republican, but I think if I had voted, I would have written in "Jeff" or "Jeffrey," for no other reason than to make a statement. Both Republican candidates made statements relative to abortion that were not only disappointing, but sort of stupid.

As I laid out in previous posts, abortion legislation is not even an issue in this election, and every candidate team (except for Terlaje) demonstrated their inability to lead this government by falling into a trap they didn't even need to step into. If you want to know more about why I say this, see my posts here and here. 

Note: Even though Terlaje was the only candidate not to "step in it," I still would have voted for Tenorio on account of what I already stated.

Now that it's between Terlaje and Ada, I think I'll do another write-in: Jesus. I'd like to vote for Ada, but he's an avowed Freemason. And for a Catholic, that's a problem. I don't blame Ada. I'm sure he never knew...until now. 

It's a matter that our clergy should have engaged him on long ago. However, when you have an archbishop who eagerly runs away from the altar during the funeral for perhaps Guam's most beloved priest in order to give a big hug to Guam's most vicious advocate for abortion ever (the governor), and the nation's first openly gay Lieutenant Governor, and later give them communion, then....?

Note: The picture of Typhoon Bavi doesn't have anything to do with the post...other than its what Guam politics always feels like. :)

I THINK BLOCKLEY TOOK THE PHOTO

By Tim Rohr

Kandit News ran a story a few hours ago about a certain Fr. (Matthew) Blockley reporting that he had been accosted by Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio in a hotel lobby in Manila.  

"In the lobby I met the lieutenant governor of Guam and Matthew (Topasna), and tried to greet them," he said. "As I approached I noticed the lieutenant governor looked upset and he began to raise his voice at me about a photo that had circulated."

Kandit further reports:

The photograph Father Blockley refers to shows Mr. Tenorio, Mr. Topasna, the lieutenant governor's sister Charissa Tenorio, Guam Archbishop Ryan Jimenez, and at least three other people from Guam outside the corridor to Sanctuario de San Antonio on August 9, one of the people in the picture confirmed to Kandit. The photo was widely shared in Guam, and became the subject of scrutiny on the blog JungleWatch.

While the Kandit story dates the photo in question to August 9, the story does not date the alleged altercation between Tenorio and Blockley. Kandit posted its story on August 12 at 8:47 PM. I posted the photo on JungleWatch on August 11 at 9:58 AM, so it's possible that the JungleWatch post may be what Tenorio was upset about. However, when I received the photo via WhatsApp on August 10 at about 7:30 PM, I was told that it had already been circulating on the internet.

I received no information about the context of the photo and, due to recent travel, had not been following the news about the court order permitting travel for the three indicted persons in the photo. Not having any information about the photo, I decided to post it without comment - something I often did during the "Apuron Wars," because it was a way to discover context from the comments. 

Before posting, I found the story about the three indicted persons being permitted to travel to Manila for medical reasons, so I posted a link to that story with the photo. While the post generated over 1000 views in less than 24 hours, there were only a couple of comments.

There are many comments on the above-linked Kandit story; however, it appears that no one else knows much about the photo's context or why so many others from Guam, including the archbishop (and his personal secretary), are there.

My interest in the photo was not Tenorio or his clan, indicted or not, but the presence of the archbishop. I had already been quite critical of his actions relative to the Tenorio campaign, especially his either ignorant or shameless Marine Corps Drive wave after blessing Tenorio's campaign headquarters, and then his apparent permission to use his image in paid promotional ads for the same campaign. Such ecclesiastical boot-licking is an embarrassment, at least to some of us, and, as I posited in a recent post, the Jimenez presence apparently backfired.

I was initially under the impression that the photo had been taken before the election, which, in my mind, would have made sense given that Jimenez was in the Tenorio camp. However, it is now clear that the photo is from August 9, after the election. So what is Jimenez doing there? A chance meeting? I don't think so.

And now, there's the sudden entry into the story of this priest, Blockley. Blockley was an early ally in the Apuron Wars. He had initially been incardinated in Guam under Apuron, but split to Saipan after some sort of internecine squabbles with other priests. In Saipan, under the late Tomas Camacho, Blockley again ran afoul of whatever he ran afoul of and ran away to the Philippines, where, as far as I know, he has been ever since. 

At one point in the Apuron mess, I decided to not deal with Blockley anymore. I forget the reason, but there were many early "allies" that I eventually had to distance myself from due to their use of me (and JungleWatch) to assuage their personal grievances instead of righting the church, which is what I was trying to do, at great expense to myself and my family.

Meanwhile, at least from my experience with him, where Blockley goes, trouble follows. So I don't think his running into Tenorio and Topasna in a hotel lobby was a chance meeting. But of more interest to me is what Blockley says here:

"I have absolutely no interest at all in this photo or anyone in it except for [one of the people shown], who is a friend of mine who I had just had dinner with Thursday evening."

It's interesting to me that Blockley doesn't name the friend. Why not? So let's guess: if there is anybody in the photo that Blockley knew well enough to have dinner with, it is obviously Archbishop Ryan Jimenez. 

Both Blockley and Jimenez were priests together in Saipan for several years. In fact, if Blockley did not have dinner with Jimenez, but someone else in that picture, then that would have been a strange snub of Jimenez, who is, after all, the Archbishop of Agana, the diocese where Blockley was originally incardinated. 

In fact, Jimenez may have been in Manila to specifically meet with Blockley. The last I heard, Blockley is still incardinated in Saipan, but stripped of his priestly faculties there, so he's been moonlighting in Manila for many years, supported by family money and assorted Catholics in Manila for whom he does private home Masses - at least that was the story the last I had anything to do with him. It could be that Blockley is working with Jimenez to have his faculties restored and even brought back to the Agana diocese, if only in name, so that he can count on a regular paycheck - from us.

I don't know, but Blockley clearly ran to Kandit with his story about Tenorio, so, after ten years of not hearing from him, he has invited as much speculation as we want.

One last thing. The Kandit story notes that Blockley says that the photo was given to him. 

Father Blockley said that when he received the photo he did not feel there was anything wrong with it...

Hmmmm. I don't think so. I think Blockley took the photo. And I think it was Jimenez who told Blockley where the Tenorio party was going to be on August 9. And given Tenorio's "accosting" of Blockley upon sight of him, it appears Tenorio knew that Blockley took the photo.

TONY ADA'S FREEMASON TIES - A FACTOR IN THE GENERAL ELECTION?

Submitted by a contributor

Google AI says:

 will Tony Ada free mason ties have a negative impact on Catholic voters on general gubernational race

Whether Republican gubernatorial nominee Tony Ada’s Freemason ties will have a net negative impact on Catholic voters in Guam’s November 3, 2026 general election depends on the voter segment, but historical trends and local commentary indicate it will likely cause localized friction rather than a widespread voting boycott. [1, 2]

The primary factors dictating how this dynamic will play out across Guam's highly Catholic electorate include:

1. Direct Backlash from Traditionalist and Devout Catholics

• The Religious Conflict: The Catholic Church holds a historically strict stance against Freemasonry, maintaining that a Catholic cannot simultaneously be a Freemason. Because Tony Ada explicitly identifies as Catholic while maintaining membership in Charleston #44 F&AM, some traditionalists view this dual affiliation as a direct contradiction. [1, 2, 3]
• Active Opposition Campaigns: Traditionalist Catholic commentary groups on Guam, such as the influential blog JungleWatch, have actively campaigned against the Ada-Calvo ticket. Critics have openly urged Catholic voters to reject Ada, framing his fraternal ties and political outreach to non-Catholic organizations as a betrayal of Church values. For this highly devout voter bloc, his Masonic ties are an outright disqualifier. [1]

2. Mitigation via Cultural and Secular Voter Priorities

• Dominance of Economic and Quality-of-Life Issues: For the broader, more secularly minded Catholic population on Guam, day-to-day economic struggles far outweigh fraternal controversies. Exit polling and supporter feedback from the August 1, 2026 primary highlighted that voters are overwhelmingly focused on the high cost of living, outward migration, bad roads, and economic revitalization. Ada's "Guam First Agenda" focuses on these practical, "back to basics" issues, which resonates with voters regardless of religious friction. [1, 2, 3]
• The "CHamoru Culture" Factor: Religious expression on Guam is heavily intertwined with CHamoru culture and familial networks. Ada has historically emphasized that his political philosophy revolves around cultural servant-leadership. Furthermore, he and his running mate, EJ Calvo, strategically kicked off their primary election day by attending morning Mass, maintaining visible alignment with local Catholic traditions to neutralize criticisms. [1, 2, 3]

3. The General Election Matchup Dynamics

• A Polarized Choice: In the general election, the Ada-Calvo ticket faces the Democratic team of Senators Therese Terlaje and Sabina Perez. Conservative Catholic voters who are uncomfortable with Ada’s Freemasonry face a political dilemma: they must weigh their discomfort with his fraternal ties against their likely ideological opposition to the Democratic platform. [1, 2]

Summary Verdict

The Freemasonry issue will cost Ada votes among traditionalist, highly conservative Catholics who follow local religious watchdogs. However, it is unlikely to trigger a mass defection of the general Catholic electorate, as the vast majority of voters are prioritizing concrete issues like the economy, public safety, and government corruption over private fraternal memberships. [1, 2, 4]

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