[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E942-E943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   TRIBUTE TO FRANCISCO DUENAS PEREZ

                                 ______


                        HON. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 3, 1995
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this occasion to 
commend one of the island's principal leaders upon his induction to the 
Guam Business Hall of Fame. Mr. Francisco Duenas Perez, through the 
years, has contributed greatly towards the development and economic 
stability of his home, the Island of Guam.
  Better known as Frank D. Perez, he was born in the city of Agana to 
Jesus Flores Perez and Margarita Mendiola Duenas on July 5, 1913. He 
attended the Guam Elementary School and the Guam Evening High School, 
where he graduated with honors in 1933. Although he was accepted by the 
University of California at Davis, he decided not to leave the island 
in order to stay with his ailing mother. This industrial pioneer 
instead opted to engage in his first business venture at the young 
[[Page E943]] age of 20. He established a poultry farm which sold and 
exported high quality eggs to the local community and off-island 
localities such as Wake, Midway, and Johnston Islands.
  The destruction brought about by World War II opened a window of 
opportunity for him to focus on the field of construction and 
development. In 1947, he joined Kenneth T. Jones, Jr. and Segundo Leon 
Guerrero in the formation of the Pacific Construction Co. Roughly 4 
years later, he and family members founded the Frank D. Perez and Bros. 
Co., a conglomerate comprising a hardware store, a concrete block 
plant, and a construction company. Frank served as its president and 
general manager.
  The company was incorporated in 1960 and came to be known as Perez 
Bros., Inc. They have since been pioneers in the development of housing 
subdivisions on the island. Perezville, the island's first private 
housing subdivision, was the outcome of this campaign spearheaded by 
Frank through Perez Bros. A virtual wilderness back in 1933 when Frank 
first acquired the land, Perezville, is now regarded as one of the 
island's best housing developments. Perezville and scores of high 
quality structures around the island could be considered as legacies of 
Frank Perez and Perez Bros.
  His involvement in business ventures, however, has never caused him 
to cut back on his civic commitments. Aside from active participation 
in church and community projects, he has also made a mark in local 
governmental affairs. He was appointed to the House Assembly in 1937 
while still in his twenties and went on to serve as an elected member 
of the Guam Legislature and its predecessor, the Guam Congress. It was 
as a senator in the Eighth Guam Legislature in 1965 that he sponsored a 
bill that established the Guam Economic Development Authority [GEDA], 
the agency which became the catalyst for Guam's economic development.
  After seemingly countless decades of dedicated service and 
substantial contributions to the community, Frank Perez still chooses 
to remain active. He still attends to the business of Perez Bros. With 
Frank on the job, the island can continue to count on Perez Bros. to 
provide the same quality products and service that we have grown 
accustomed to during the more than four decades under his supervision.
  Frank D. Perez, for the better part of this century, has contributed 
greatly to every aspect of Guam's development. I would like to take 
this occasion to commend and congratulate him on all his 
accomplishments and on his well-deserved induction to the Guam Business 
Hall of Fame. I join his wife, the former Carmen Sirena Camcho Duenas; 
his children; Frank, Joseph, Gregory, George, Thomas, Daniel, John, 
Mary, Carmen, and Margarita; who, together with the Guam Chamber of 
Commerce and the people of Guam, celebrate this man's extraordinary 
accomplishments.


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