[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H6259]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO LEO BORJA TUDELA

  (Mr. SABLAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, today, as we struggle with the future of 
the United States Postal Service, I want to pay tribute to one of the 
many dedicated individuals who has kept the mail on its way to our 
homes and businesses in this Nation for almost five decades.
  Mr. Leo Borja Tudela was born in the village of Garapan in the 
Northern Mariana Islands in 1943. His mother, Magdalena Tudela Salas, 
was the daughter of Jesus Sablan Tudela and Anunciasion Borja Tudela, 
who raised their grandson.
  Leo worked very hard for an education, moving to Guam for high 
school, returning to college after service in the United States Army, 
and finally earning a master's degree with honors in California.
  Mr. Tudela took his education and crafted a career with the Postal 
Service, rising to a vice presidency, and today directing operations in 
the Asia/Pacific-Micronesia region as a member of the Postal Career 
Executive Service.
  Leo Borja Tudela's career exemplifies the power and benefit of 
education. I congratulate him. And I encourage young people in the 
Northern Mariana Islands and throughout America to follow that example 
for their own benefit and for the ultimate benefit of our Nation.
  Today, as we struggle with the future of the U.S. Postal Service, I 
want to take a moment to pay tribute to one of the many dedicated 
individuals, who has kept the mail on its way to our homes and 
businesses in this nation for almost five decades.
  Mr. Leo Borja Tudela was born in the Northern Mariana Islands in the 
village of Garapan on the island of Saipan on July 17, 1943. His 
mother, Magdalena Tudela Salas, was the daughter of Jesus Sablan Tudela 
and Anunciasion Borja Tudela, who raised their grandson.
  Leo was educated at William S. Reyes Elementary School in Chalan 
Kanoa, graduating with honors. During his elementary years, Leo also 
served as an altar boy at the Chalan Kanoa Diocese Catholic Church. 
There he met Pale Arnold, who recognized the young man's intelligence 
and drive and arranged for him to attend St. Jude Intermediate Catholic 
School in Sinajana on Guam under the sponsorship of tire Capuchin 
Fathers in Agana Heights. Leo completed his education on Guam at George 
Washington High School, serving as editor in chief of the yearbook and 
graduating in 1962 with honors.
  Mr. Borja's education was interrupted by the draft--he served in the 
U.S. Army for three years, earning a Soldier of the Month Award and 
Good Conduct Medal before being honorably discharged. But after this 
military service, Mr. Tudela immediately returned to his education. He 
first entered the Junior College of San Mateo, California, then moved 
to California State University at Hayward, California.
  This is also when he began to work for the U.S. Postal Service, which 
would become his life-long career. He took up a part-time position as a 
postal assistant in South San Francisco, and later moved to full-time, 
though still in school. Mr. Borja worked the graveyard shift, eight 
hours each night, then went to his college classes in the morning. 
Afternoons and evenings were devoted to studies and a little rest. Then 
at eleven o'clock at night it was back to the post office to move the 
mail. Mr. Borja maintained this grueling schedule throughout the time 
it took to earn first his bachelor's degree and then a master's--
graduating with honors in both degrees.
  Now Mr. Borja's postal career began in earnest. He was promoted to 
management and sent as an equal employment office specialist to Salt 
Lake City, Utah. His next assignment was as MSC Director of Employee 
and Labor Relations in Boise, Idaho, then District Director of E&LR in 
San Juan, Puerto Rico, in Boston, Massachusetts, and in Santa Ana, 
California. Moving up the management ladder, Mr. Borja was appointed to 
be the Manager Sectional Center, City of Industry, East of Los Angeles, 
California, Division Manager/Postmaster in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and 
District Manager for South Florida in Miami.
  In 1992, he became the Vice President for the Southeast Area, 
responsible for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi. 
He oversaw operations involving more than 92,000 employees, 20,731 post 
offices, and a budget of three billion dollars.
  Throughout his rise in responsibility, Mr. Tudela--and the Postal 
Service--continued to invest in his education. He attended a number of 
executive training programs in the Ivy League, at MIT, the University 
of Virginia, and at Duke.
  Though his career had taken him far from his humble roots in the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Mr. Tudela never forgot his home; and, 
eventually, his postal service work returned him to the Pacific. He is 
presently the Director, Asia/Pacific-Micronesia, PCES--Postal Career 
Executive Service, overseeing all mail to and from Micronesia. He is 
involved with managing, and participated in crafting, the compact 
agreements between the United States and the Freely Associated States 
of Micronesia, which include the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the 
Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia. This work 
requires him to coordinate with the U.S. State Department and its three 
embassies in these nations, and with the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, which also has responsibilities in the region. The U.S. 
Postal Service and the services it provides are an important component 
of those compact relationships, benefiting both the Freely Associated 
States governments and businesses in Micronesia.
  He has contributed to development on his home island, as well. In 
1990, Mr. Tudela was very instrumental in building a new post office in 
his birth village of Chalan Kanoa. Land was at a premium on the islands 
at that time and the Northern Marianas government asked for three 
million dollars for the property needed for the new facility. Mr. 
Tudela, through his personal perseverance, worked with the local 
government, even having local legislation enacted, which resulted in 
the land being leased to the Postal Service for just one dollar per 
year for 40 years, with an option for another 40 years truly an example 
of good financial management at the Postal Service. With the land issue 
overcome, Mr. Tudela then took personal interest in overseeing the 
design and construction of the new post office in ``C.K.,'' which the 
community much enjoys to this day.
  Certainly another point of pride for Mr. Tudela has been the 
opportunity to participate in dedication of special issue stamps 
commemorating his home. In 1993, Mr. Tudela was there to dedicate the 
Northern Mariana Islands stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service. And 
just last month, on August 12, he dedicated the Northern Mariana 
Islands stamp that is part of the Flags of Our Nation series.
  Although this well-deserved tribute is for Mr. Leo Borja Tudela, it 
is my hope that calling attention to his life, which began so humbly 
but has proceeded to become so noteworthy, will serve as an inspiration 
for others from the Northern Mariana Islands. The lesson is well known, 
but not always applied: pursue an education--not just in youth, but 
throughout life, do your best, persevere, work hard. Your effort will 
be rewarded, just as it has for Mr. Leo Borja Tudela, and will benefit 
us all.

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