[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         TRIBUTE TO RON de LUGO

                                 ______


                               speech of

                        HON. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 1994

  Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. Speaker, after 20 years of public service, our 
distinguished colleague, the Honorable Ron de Lugo, delegate from the 
Virgin Islands, will be retiring. Ron de Lugo is currently the chairman 
of the House Subcommittee on Insular and International Affairs, a 
position he has held since 1987. I would like to take this opportunity 
to commend and congratulate our esteemed colleague for his dedicated 
service to our nation and for his many accomplishments on behalf of the 
United States Virgin Islands and the insular territories.
  Chairman de Lugo's roots in the Virgin Islands run deep. Antonio Lugo 
y Suarez migrated to the Virgin Islands from Puerto Rico in 1879 and 
became a merchant, operating various wholesale and retail businesses. 
Antonio's business was passed on to his son, Angelo, who was born on 
St. Thomas in 1892. Angelo de Lugo was blessed with two sons. One of 
them is Win, the former Director and current National Representative of 
the Virgin Islands Film Promotion Office. Angelo de Lugo's other son, 
Ron, went to become the only man to hold the office of Washington 
Representative from the Virgin Islands and the first in 1972 to occupy 
the newly created seat of the Washington Delegate in the U.S. Congress 
from the Virgin Islands.
  Even in his early years, Ron left a definite mark in his home 
islands. In his efforts to improve himself through education, he 
attended academic institutions in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and 
the U.S. mainland. He returned to St. Thomas in 1950 after a tour of 
duty with the U.S. Army and helped start WSTA, the first radio station 
in the Virgin Islands. It was here that he created the popular, wise-
comic character of ``Mango Jones,'' still fondly remembered today forty 
years after the fact! Another lasting legacy attributed to this dynamic 
fellow is the institution of the Virgin Islands Carnival that we know 
and enjoy today. He led the revival of this community institution in 
1952, exhibiting the leadership skills that would assist him in a 
lifetime of public service.
  It was not long before his flair for politics and destiny towards 
public service began to emerge. He moved to St. Croix in 1955 and 
embarked on what was to become his life's work the following year. At 
the age of twenty-six, he was elected at-large to the Virgin Islands 
Legislature, the youngest member to serve in that body up to that time. 
Consistently elected by large pluralities, he served as a legislator 
for ten years with one break to serve as St. Croix Administrator. He 
was elected in 1968 and, again, in 1970 to be Virgin Islands' first 
Washington Representative. Due in large measure to Ron's efforts, the 
office of the Virgin Islands' Delegate to the U.S. Congress was 
established in 1972, clearly a great step forward in the islands' 
political development. He eventually became the first man elected to 
occupy this seat. He has since won further approval from the people of 
the Virgin Islands through subsequent re-elections in 1974 and 1976 
and, again, in successive elections from 1980 through 1992.
  Chairman de Lugo is a ranking member of the Committee on Natural 
Resources, the House Public Works Committee, and the House Education 
and Labor Committee. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Insular and 
International Affairs, he presides over a committee with jurisdiction 
over the Caribbean and Pacific Island territories and freely associated 
states, U.S. Department of the Interior assistance to other countries, 
and Antarctica.
  The Chairman has left an indelible mark on the history of the U.S. 
territories and the freely associated states. Just days ago, on the 
first of October, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was 
terminated when Palau became the Republic of Palau. Chairman de Lugo's 
work on behalf of Palau to implement their Compact of Free Association 
with the United States is an example of his tenacity in resolving the 
political status issues.
  Ron de Lugo can list as his accomplishments the legislation 
implementing the covenant between the United States and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Compact of Free 
Association establishing a new free association with the Republic of 
the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. He 
championed the provisions in the Compact legislation authorizing 
reimbursements to Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas for the 
educational and social services impact of immigration from the freely 
associated states. He was also effective in passing the political 
status plebiscite legislation for Puerto Rico in 1990, the only bill 
concerning Puerto Rico's status to pass the House in decades.
  Ron de Lugo worked tirelessly on Guam status issues. He urged the 
Clinton administration to focus on the issue of Guam's Commonwealth and 
has been my greatest ally in Congress on political status issues. He 
understands Guam, and he understands the history of our people, our 
determination to right past injustices, and our commitment to a new 
Commonwealth.
  He was instrumental in passing H.R. 2144, the Guam Excess Lands Act, 
the first legislation enacted by Congress to return lands declared 
excess by the military over seventeen years ago to the people of Guam. 
He has been a strong and vocal advocate of restitution to the people of 
Guam for past atrocities committed by the enemy during Guam's 
occupation in World War II. And finally, he will always be remembered 
on Guam for his close friendship with Antonio B. Won Pat, Guam's first 
Delegate to Congress, who also arrived in Washington at the same time 
with Ron to break new ground as Territorial Delegates.
  Few political leaders in the U.S. territories can claim the record of 
accomplishment of Ron de Lugo. Fewer still can boast of friends 
stretching from the far flung reaches of the Caribbean to the Pacific. 
Ron's departure will be felt, and his presence will most certainly be 
missed by those who have come to count on his ability and integrity. 
For those of us who reside in the insular territories, he is one of us, 
he is cut from the same cloth, he has walked in our shoes. He has been 
a loyal advocate and a true friend. Our final tribute, is to say to a 
great statesman and friend, thank you.

                          ____________________