Pilar Poblacion Malilay
All the time I spent in Camp Roxas was memorable. You are among 15,000 men, and you laugh.
You give shots, and the men are afraid of you because you give them a very big needle.
We went hiking every weekend to all the creeks in Mt. Lamlam from Sella Bay going up. Way back, before the Navy came, water comes down from Mt. Lamlam, going to the bay. On the way, there are plenty shrimps and eels. I never thought about the Japanese stragglers before, because there were plenty of us. Lot of people from Talofofo get lost and they don’t know where they are. I think these Japanese are the ones that kidnap and kill them in the boonies.
We go among 10 to15 men and we catch shrimps because the food in the camp is no good.You know, the stomach of the meat, they just put water and salt, and just boil it. They don’t even wash it. And then the men eat it. What can you do? If you will not eat, you will be hungry! And we ate rice that is left over from World War II, and so the rice is half rice weevil and half rice.
Before, all contract workers were banned, they were not supposed to go in the villages unless you have a permit from the commissioner. So the workers have not seen girls for many years. You can only see girls in the bar, the pongpongs from Hawaii. And you know how they dance? You have to get a ticket, and the machine will start to play for a few minutes. And ting! Stop again. You have to pay. And you have to buy again. We call that taxi dancers.
We were not used to kissing. Before, I thought that when you are kissed, you are already a bad woman. So I have to be careful. No touching. Nobody likes me! When I was in the camp I go to the chaplain’s quarters, I climb the cherry tree, because there were plenty men. I’m afraid I will fall in love with the men and my two brothers cannot finish college. So I’m on top of the cherry tree, and how can somebody go near me, because I am on top of the tree?
When I go to the movie I am alone. I like it, because, they buy me balut, they buy me anything to eat. I was very fat when I was there, because I always eat.
I came from the farm in the Philippines. When I came, I don’t use lipstick. I don’t use bra. Then this old man came, and said, “Inday, you have to use lipstick, because the nurses in the Naval Hospital, and even here, they use lipstick.” So the following morning, he brought me three shades of lipstick.
And then another one said, “Inday, you know the other nurses in the Naval Hospital, they have to use bra. So you have to use bra.” I don’t use bra before, because I have to hide my breast. I put towel here in front of me, so my chest will not become big! I told Uncle Vito that had I known that the men likes it big, like that, I would have put my bra on and make it like that. But me, no! I hide… I put towel here in my breast, or if I have no towel, I put toilet paper. And so when I walk like that, there is no breast! Because my breast, inside, is covered by toilet paper! That is what I am like in the camp!
And you know Estoy, he is driving a Jeep, so I like to ride with him. Every time, I say, “Hey! Estoy!” and I do like that. . . (sticking thumb out). Because if anything goes wrong, I am going to beat him! Because he is handicapped and I am very strong! So I ride with him in his Jeep! So when I see him I say, “Hi, Estoy!” He is scared of me, because I am very tomboy.
When there is something sold in the PX, I call your dad (Benjamin Mallo) in Camp Asan, I say, "Nong Jamin, you know, they are selling shoes there and I like it very much." He says, “Ok, come.” And he will drive me there in Camp Asan and say, you know, “This is my niece, and she likes to buy something.”
The men are loving. If you are formal, they are going to treat you good, they defend you. They feed you. I would rather go with men than women. The women, they gossip. The men, no. They help you, and they guard you.
One of the patients told me: “Pilar, you stay in this island. It is a clean place; it is very close to the Philippines; the people are like you, they eat what you eat, and if you are tired, just go out for vacation and come back. If you have a property in this island, don’t sell it.”
I have six kids, I don’t have any babysitter and I work nights, When I reach the hospital at night, the patients will come out. Maybe four, three of them will say, “La! Looks like you’re very very tired. Go and get the chairs and put it together and go to the bedroom and get the bedsheets. You sleep, La, and we will watch you. You rest.”
Sometimes five of them will stay in front of my desk, and I am sound asleep. When four o’clock comes, they will say, “La, La. Wake up, that’s enough. Ah, you wake up to finish your work because pretty soon it’s going to be seven o’clock.” So I wake up, but I slept the whole night.
I helped two of my brothers finish college. I paid all the mortgages on the house. Be thankful. Guam is good.
--- Excerpted from 5/28/2009 video interview with Delfina Cataluna & Pilar Malilay at residence of Delfina Cataluna, Tamuning, Guam, by Bernie Provido Schumann and Burt Sardoma Jr. with the assistance of Josephine M.Garrido. Transcribed September - October 2009 by Andrew M. White
