An informal meeting between one of Guam's last World War II survivors and Del. Michael San Nicolas reignited hopes for more progress in getting long-overdue reparations to the island's war survivors.
Irene Perez Ploke Sgambelluri-Beruan, 88, met with San Nicolas on Wednesday afternoon at his district office in Hagåtña.
Sgambelluri-Beruan shared a portion of her story from when Japanese troops invaded the island.
"I went in the jungle and said, 'Daddy, you have to surrender or they are going to kill us. So he came out and took off his T-shirt and tied it and held my hand," she said.
"Congressman, I will never forget that day. The Japanese grabbed him, stripped him naked, kicked him and then they threw him in the truck and took him down to the cathedral. ... That's where they kept all the prisoners of war," she said.
In April, the U.S. Department of the Interior responded to a letter she sent to President Donald Trump earlier this year.
Sgambelluri-Beruan wrote that she was recently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, which is terminal.
In response, Douglas Domenech, assistant secretary of insular and international affairs, stated, "Regrettably, we now know that the law was incomplete. The federal agency responsible for compensating Guam victims, the Department of the Treasury, believes it does not have legal access to the identified funds."Â Domenech said the Interior Department has been working with San Nicolas to correct the oversight.
In March, San Nicolas introduced a measure to correct the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act to allow the release of funds to war survivors. H.R. 1365 was introduced as an alternative to the previous measure San Nicolas had proposed, which has been referred to the House Committee on Appropriations. The new bill would remove the existing appropriations language and allow the Department of the Treasury to issue checks from the funding that already is available.
"I am hoping that we will probably get a hearing in June and try and get a hearing in the Natural Resources Committee," San Nicolas told Sgambelluri-Beruan.
"If you could give me the bill and I will forward it to the president and ask him for help to push that bill. I don't understand. I asked Madeleine (Bordallo) to do that years ago, but all she said to me was Guam is not a U.S. state," she said. "It's really not fair."
Sgambelluri-Beruan also told San Nicolas that she has yet to hear any updates from Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero on the war claims issue.
The governor's communications director, Janela Carrera, told The Guam Daily Post that the Office of the Governor did receive a call from Sgambelluri-Beruan regarding her concerns on war claims.
"We have been in contact with the congressman as well as other representatives in Congress, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Treasury and other federal agencies to find a solution to the recent setback," Carrera said. "We will continue to work with our federal government on this issue and will be updating Mrs. Sgambelluri and the people of Guam as soon as we receive more information on the status of war claims payouts."
San Nicolas told Sgambelluri-Beruan he would provide her with copies of his measure in an effort to gain greater support to get the war claims paid out sooner.
"If it goes to the president himself, he would probably have time to read it and let's see what he can do," she said.
"You should get a check as soon as we are able to get the law changed," San Nicolas said. "I am not going to start the process over again. We keep the current process as it is for now ... and I am hoping the hearing will be in June."
"I really want to get this done as soon as possible. I don't want to wait too long," San Nicolas said.
