Under the American Sun (Camp Roxas Film Project), Bernie Provido Schumann, P.O. Box 5307, Hagatna, GU 96932
Rizal Beach
(AFLLEJE BEACH MEMORIAL PARK/ MAJANG HULO)
Rizal Beach (traditionally called Majang Hulo) was part of the adjoining Camp Roxas (1946 – 1972) facility, a Filipino labor camp located north of Agat-Santa Rita as part of the post-World War II military reconstruction on Guam. The now-overgrown beach area is located on the southwest corner of the existing Camp Covington, a U.S. Navy Construction Battalion (Seebees) facility turned over in January 2013 to the U.S. Army 84th Engineer Battalion.
After the 1972 close of Camp Roxas, Rizal Beach was turned over to the Government of Guam and renamed Affleje Beach Memorial Park. The public beach then was returned to the descendants of Baltasar, Carlos and Alfredo Pangelinan Bordallo.
The beach's south border is marked by a lacy limestone outcropping while tiny ghost and hermit crabs fill the pebbled beach stretching north. In the distance is a curving coastline with views of Orote Point, U.S. Naval Base Guam and Apra Harbor.
Archival photos show a low limestone concrete fence border with a concrete sign. The entrance was marked with a painting of the beach panoroma on concrete. An inclined paved road led to the upper concrete pavilion and stairway. A rougher, partly unpaved road curved down to the right of the entrance to the lower beach area.
Early Camp Roxas Filipino contract workers spoke of catching fish by hand in the shallow tidal pools created by the receding tide. Many former camp residents spoke of the dramatic sunsets during beach social events.
The lower beach area included shower facilities near the rocky promontory as well as basketball and volley courts and a lifeguard shack. The landscaped upper beach area included a large roofing-tin pavilion with perimeter seating and overlook metal railings. The structure eventually was upgraded to a concrete-roofed facility with electrical lighting and a concrete podium. In 1998, an upgraded concrete stairway with metal railings (a result of Government of Guam improvements to public recreational areas in Agat and Santa Rita) took beachgoers from the upper parking area to lower beach area.
After Camp Roxas closed, former residents and families who settled on Guam continued to use the public beach for social events, donating organization funds to build beach facilities. Today, only remnants of the upper-level concrete pavilion remain. Since the turnover of the land to Pangelinan-Bordallo descendants, the now-overgrown area is now closed and reserved for private use. Former Camp Roxas residents and their descendants, who largely settled in the Agat-Santa Rita area, relocated their beachside events to Nimitz Beach, donating organization funds to build concrete pavilions and other beach facilities.
In 2012, Under the American Sun visited the former Rizal Beach (now closed to the public) with Bordallo descendant, Erwin Bordallo Jr., and returned with these wonderful photos.
