SAIPAN Mayor David M. Apatang on Wednesday morning led a ceremony to rename Laiguan Street in San Antonio to Tan Amalian Badu Avenue, in honor of Amalia Muna Deleon Guerrero Diaz (1912-2003), a well-known and respected senior citizen in the village.
“Everyone looked up to her,” Apatang said.
Joining him in unveiling the new street sign were House Minority Leader Angel Demapan, Reps. Edwin Propst, Joseph Leepan Guerrero and Joseph Flores, along with some of Tan Amalian Badu’s grandchildren.
Apatang noted that Tan Amalian Badu’s husband, Antonio Arriola Diaz, served as a Saipan municipal council member for 14 years after World War II.
“She was a devout Catholic and a very good woman,” he added. “A lot of community members, including her relatives, had been requesting my office to rename that street in her honor and I was more than happy to do that.”
Demapan said Tan Amalian Badu, who had 14 children, devoted her life to the San Antonio Parish which was then under the pastoral care of the late Msgr. Vicente Martinez.
She helped organize many religious functions in the village and provided assistance to various community members who needed help, Demapan said.
“So today, we honor and pay tribute to a pillar of the village of San Antonio,” Demapan said.
The original street name, Laiguan, is the Chamorro name for mullet fish.
Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, House Minority Leader Angel Demapan, Reps. Joseph Flores, Joseph Leepan Guerrero and Edwin Propst pose for a photo with the grandchildren of Amalia Muna Deleon Guerrero Diaz after the renaming of a San Antonio street in her honor on Wednesday.
