Under the American Sun, an independently produced 60-minute film documentary currently in production, will trace the history of Filipino-American immigrants to Guam who resided in Camp Roxas in Agat after World War II as part of the military reconstruction effort.
Preliminary funding was provided through the Guam Humanities Council by the National Endowment for Humanities for a photo exhibit, discussion series and a 10-minute introductory film. When funding was discontinued (1) (2) through the Guam Humanities Council, the Camp Roxas Film Project pursued alternate grant funding as an independent film documentary. The film is currently in post-production and awaiting completion for international broadcast.
From the private collection of Jovito & Pilar Malilay (used with permission)
Under the American Sun (Camp Roxas Film Project), Bernie Provido Schumann, P.O. Box 5307, Hagatna, GU 96932
Director Burt Sardoma and Producer Bernadette Provido Schumann stand in front of aged concrete columns, now in ruins, that once held a welcome sign to the Camp Roxas Recreation Center. (Camp Roxas Film Project photo)
Click HERE to view Under the American Sun (22-minute version). Initial funding provided by Guam Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities: We the People. Current funding provided by independent donors.
This is not an official list. The names shown here were compiled at the request of Camp Roxas descendants from several sources and from voluntary submissions. This list originally was not intended for public use and names may be omitted. This list represents only a small fraction of thousands of unaccounted names and is for informational purposes only.
Camp Roxas families group photo at Nov. 26, 2013 Agat Village Market.
Bernie Provido Schumann received the 2014 Gawad Ulirang Pilipino award, media category, for her work regarding Under the American Sun - Camp Roxas Film Project. The award was sponsored by the Filipino Community of Guam, in partnership with IPE (Shell Guam) and IT&E.
"Remembering Camp Roxas" Hita Talk, sponsored by Guam Museum on June 15, 2019, featured the short film, "Under the American Sun," presented by Burt Sardoma Jr. Bernie Schumann and JoAnna Renee Delfin facilitated the panel discussion. Guest panelists were Peter Judicpa, Cynthia Nisay, Josephine Garrido, Larry Panaguiton, Patrick Luces and Darlene Moore.
During the June 15, 2019 "Remembering Camp Roxas" Hita Talk at the Guam Museum, archeologist Darlene Moore of Micronesian Archeological Services described an alcove discovered by Filipino Sumitomo construction workers clearing the site of the former Camp Roxas chapel for the Agat-Santa Rita Wastewater Treatment Plant. (Click HERE to download 2018 archeological report submitted to Guam Waterworks Authorithy).
- Camp Edusa, Barracks Foundations,(Wettengel Elementary School),northwest of the intersection of Marine Corps Drive and Route 3,Dededo,Guam - Photographs / written historical and descriptive data, Historic Amaerican Buildings Survey, Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 333 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
The discovery of passenger ship manifests documenting the arrival of batches of hundreds of Camp Roxas workers by Under the American Sun (Camp Roxas Film Project) provides undeniable evidence of the historical impact of Filipino workers on Guam. This monumental milestone became the latest interview topic as filming resumed on Dec. 12, 2021.
Josephine Mallo-Garrido, associate producer, described to Bernie Provido Schumann how she discovered and gathered online manifests from national archives using names from a private list maintained by film producers since 2006.
Burt Sardoma, film director and Camp Roxas descendant, found his father’s name on a ship passenger manifest dated Nov. 20, 1949. The aged and tattered three-page legal-sized document, now with scribbled side notes and three punch holes, somehow survived rough storage in a binder.
Listed in alphabetical order, the name of Felixberto S. Sardoma is among 30 typists along with 81 laborers, 67 stevedores, two painter supervisors, four painters, ten generator operators, one clerk dispatcher, and one police officer. All weathered the rough voyage from Iloilo in a third-class passenger bunk deep in the ship’s hull. He was 22 years old when he stepped off the U.S. Navy Ship Gen. Daniel L. Sultan gangplank on Guam.
Leading the Luzon Stevedoring Company group was the elderly Fermin Zapanta Sr., who spent the voyage in a comparably luxurious first-class upper-deck cabin, assisted by a traveling labor supervisor who watched over the group in the lower decks. Zapanta was designated as Camp Roxas labor superintendent by the late Ilonggo Congressman Pascualing Espinosa, head of the Consolidated Labor Union of the Philippines (CLUP). Camp Roxas management eventually changed years later to the late Donald Marshall (obituary) and recruitment continued until the Filipino labor camp closed in 1972.
Other manifests show Felixberto S. Sardoma’s various return trips to the Philippines and back to Guam. Manifests with names of many other workers, including Loreto Provido, father of producer Bernadette Schumann, another Camp Roxas descendant, are available for viewing at the Micronesian Area Resource Center, University of Guam.
Unfortunately, these documents are incomplete, as many manifests are missing or lost, and countless names are omitted. These manifests, which represent only a tiny fraction of thousands of unaccounted Filipino workers, provide critical evidence of the historical recruitment efforts by the U.S. military in rebuilding post-World War II Guam.
Under the American Sun Details Historical Impact of Ship Manifests
Camp Roxas ship manifests from 1947 to 1957, compiled by Under the American Sun, are available for viewing at Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam. To request copies, contact Cynthia Nisay, Iloilo International Association, at ctnisay@gmail.com / (671) 988-3753
Enrico Imperio Neri was born and raised in the Philippines and is a retired researcher from the University of Guam and the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii. Ann Pobutsky is Enrico’s wife and although she was born and raised in Michigan, Ann has spent most of her adult life in the Pacific Islands. Ann is currently the Territorial Epidemiologist for the island of Guam, and is a sociologist demographer/ social epidemiologist. by training. Enrico and Ann met on the island of Guam. Their work together has explored the occupational stratification of Filipinos in Guam and in Hawaii.
Colleen Woods, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Maryland, studies U.S. history in a global context, with a special focus on Asia and the Pacific.
