By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE Camacho-Cruz administration started its first working day last Tuesday with a flag raising ceremony.
“We raise these flags at the dawn of an era in our mission to change our people’s lives with purpose, with vision and with hard work,” Gov. Felix Camacho said.
“Our work starts today. As a community and as one people, this is the first day of our new season,” the governor added.
Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz, a colonel in the Guam Army National Guard, said the flag-raising ceremony symbolizes the start of something new and something worth fighting for.
He recalled places where, as a soldier, he experienced the meaning of a flag raising to thousands of Guam’s veterans and our island’s sons and daughters who continue to fight for freedom around the world.
“When I was in Iraq, there was a wall behind one of Saddam’s old palaces where his flag was painted. I took a couple of our Chamorro soldiers and we held up a Guam flag right in front of it, not just to claim victory for America, but to claim victory for our people,” Cruz recalled.
“The raising of these flags is symbolic of what we will do over the next four years to make our people proud,” he added.
In his brief remarks, the governor said Guam is poised to shape a future of its own making.
“I know that history will be kind. And when future generations look back in time, they will know that this was a monumental time in the history of our people, that this administration made a difference in the lives of our people,” the governor said.