[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 6, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E688-E689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN TRIBUTE: JOAQUIN CAMACHO ARRIOLA

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

                    of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 6, 2014

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the contributions of 
Joaquin Camacho Arriola, who, with more than 60 years of practice as a 
highly respected lawyer in the courts of Guam and the Northern Mariana 
Islands, and as one of Guam's first Chamorro lawyers, has received the 
Hustisia Award. The award is given to recognize a person or 
organization that has contributed significantly to the administration 
of justice and the improvement of government in Guam. The Hustisia 
Award was presented to Mr. Arriola on May 2, 2014 in Guam by the Guam 
Judiciary.
  Joaquin Arriola was born on December 29, 1925 to the late Vicente 
Fernandez Arriola and the late Maria Soledad Camacho Arriola. Mr. 
Arriola lived an idyllic, rural life up until World War II, when, along 
with the rest of Guam, he had to endure years of harsh Japanese 
occupation. But when the U.S. returned to Guam, the teenaged Joaquin 
Arriola took action and was wounded by a Japanese hand grenade while 
leading a squad of the 77th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army.
  Following the war, Mr. Arriola graduated from Guam's George 
Washington High School and then in 1950 cum laude from the College of 
St. Thomas in Minnesota. Three years later Mr. Arriola earned a Juris 
Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota. He helped finance his 
college education by working part-time during the school year and in 
the summer laboring fourteen-hour days for a construction and painting 
company at the minimum wage of seventy-five cents an hour.

[[Page E689]]

  As an attorney, Mr. Arriola was admitted to practice before the 
Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota, the U.S. District Court of 
Guam, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, 
the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court of the Northern 
Marianas, and the Supreme Courts and Superior Courts of Guam and the 
Northern Marianas.
  He was also elected to the Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Guam 
Legislatures, where he was speaker during his last two terms of office. 
One of the many milestones in his legislative career took place in 
1968. The U.S. Congress was debating the Elective Governor Act of Guam, 
which contained a provision establishing a U.S. Government Comptroller 
with audit authority over all funds coming into Guam. Speaker Arriola 
spearheaded a movement against the Federal Comptroller position, 
arguing that the people of Guam were entitled to greater self-
government and that the establishment of a Federal Comptroller outside 
the framework of the government of Guam represented a step back from 
this goal and implied that the people of Guam could not be trusted with 
the expenditure of public funds. The Federal Comptroller provision was 
ultimately removed from the federal legislation.
  In addition to his years in elected office Mr. Arriola was also 
Legislative Counsel and Parliamentarian for the Fifth, Sixth and 
Seventh Guam Legislatures and legal counsel to many Government of Guam 
entities, including the Guam Power Authority and Guam Economic 
Development Authority. He served as Selective Service Government Appeal 
Agent in 1959, Small Business Administration Disaster Fee Counsel in 
1962, Chairman for the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority from 
1963 to 1964, Chairman of the Territorial Planning Commission from 1963 
to 1966, and Chairman of the Board of Regents of the College of Guam 
from 1963 to 1966. And Mr. Arriola was a part-time Associate Justice of 
the Guam Supreme Court from 1996 to 1999.
  In private practice Mr. Arriola is founding partner of Arriola, Cowan 
& Arriola--Guam's oldest established law office. His focus has been 
litigation; and Mr. Arriola still engages in civil trials to this day. 
He served as general counsel to the Bank of Guam, which he helped to 
incorporate, and as a member of the Bank's Board of Directors. He has 
also been secretary for BankPacific.
  In recognition of all these accomplishments upon his 50th anniversary 
in practice in 2003, Mr. Arriola received a legislative resolution from 
the 27th Guam Legislature (Resolution No. 66). He was also honored for 
his service to the community with the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris 
Causa) from the University of Guam in 2007.
  Mr. Arriola was married to former Senator Elizabeth P. Arriola, 
deceased. Although frequently occupied with legal matters, Mr. Arriola 
finds time to spend with his children, Jacqueline A. Marati, Vincent P. 
Arriola, Attorney Anita P. Arriola, Lisa P. Arriola, Franklin P. 
Arriola, Michael P. Arriola, Attorney Joaquin C. Arriola, Jr., and 
Anthony P. Arriola, his fifteen grandchildren and five great 
grandchildren, often while tending to his farm in Merizo.
  We recognize, commend, and congratulate Mr. Arriola for his extensive 
professional accomplishments and his deep personal commitment to 
serving the people of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

                          ____________________