Chief Kepuha statue to get 3rd replacement after typhoon damage

Many are left wondering where Chief Kepuha is now after Typhoon Mawar tore down the 11-foot statue nearly eight months ago.

KUAM headed to the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) in Paseo, Hagatna to find out.

There Parks and Rec Director Angel Sablan along with Deputy Director Warren Pelletier showed us where it's safely being stored, along with its predecessor. 

DPR Director Angel Sablan: Here they are. We just removed the tarp that was there.

KUAM: So the one on the right is the one that fell during Typhoon Mawar?

Deputy Director Warren Pelletier: Yes.

KUAM: And the one on the left is the one, the original one from 1976?

Pelletier: Correct. 

The original was erected in 1976 just after the powerful Typhoon Pamela hit home. It withstood the test of time for 40 long years, even through Typhoon Pongsona. 

Its replacement was installed in 2016 and lasted 7 years until Mawar tore it down last year. 

Pelletier said, “One of the first things I did after the typhoon was get in the vehicle and start doing the assessments and the damages. This is one of the first places I went to see and he had broken and fallen over.”

KUAM asked what his thoughts were when he saw the torn down statue and Pelletier replied, “The first was, where’s his sinahi?” 

KUAM was also there the morning after Mawar, reporting the missing sinahi.

The sinahi was in the Guam Police Department’s (GPD) possession and was returned soon after to Parks and Rec, where it’s now secured under lock and key. 

Sablan said, “They have to get through me to get to this…Still the same when it was around his neck. It's quite heavy.”

Sablan added that this sinahi will once more adorn Chief Kepuha’s neck. 

Though Kepuha himself will get another new look. Parks and Rec plans to commission a new statue from the Department of Chamorro Affairs. 

“The administration is laser focused on working with CAHA and the Department of Chamorro Affairs to also get another statue going,” Pelletier said. 

KUAM noted that this would be the third replacement. 

Pelletier said, “Yes, only because this can’t be repaired.”

We reached out to the Lt. Governor’s Islandwide Beautification task force on when we can expect to see it stood up. 

No word yet on when that may be. 

For now, Sablan assures the community, Chief Kepuha's legacy will not be forgotten. 

He said, “The two Kepuhas will be safe here. And like I said, we’re going to recommend the Department of Chamorro Affairs and the Guam Museum set aside maybe a place for them, where people can come by and see they were both standing once upon a time but a wrath of god and two different typhoons knocked them down. But we’re going to put another one up and like Warren said, show the people of Guam strength and determination to continue to honor their past.”