What are the candidates' strategies to improve health care and create new career opportunities for Guamanians?

By Ron Rocky Coloma

(Second of a two-part series)

Guam frequently plans around four-year political terms even though some of its biggest challenges, including infrastructure, housing, health care, energy, climate resilience and workforce development, require decades of sustained policy. What three long-term projects or reforms would you commit to carrying forward even if they originated under a political opponent or the pre, and what would you put in place to prevent major government priorities from being abandoned or restarted whenever administrations change?

Ada-Calvo: Guam loses too much time when every new administration believes it must start over. Good ideas do not become bad ideas simply because someone else started them.

Three long-term priorities we will carry forward are a new public hospital and stronger healthcare system; modernization of Guam's power, water and other critical infrastructure; and the expansion of housing and supporting infrastructure throughout the island.

We will continue the work necessary to build a new public hospital while immediately stabilizing and investing in GMH, because our people cannot wait years for better healthcare. We will support long-term energy and utility modernization that improves reliability, lowers costs and strengthens resilience.  

Through our HOMES First strategy, we will pursue infrastructure, permitting reform, workforce development, financing and private-sector partnerships necessary to substantially expand Guam's housing supply. Port modernization will likewise remain part of our broader long-term economic infrastructure strategy.

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These priorities are bigger than any governor, legislature or political party.

To stop the cycle of abandoning and restarting projects, major initiatives need publicly available timelines, clearly identified funding plans, measurable milestones, regular progress reports and accountable project leadership. The public should be able to see where a project stands, what has been spent, what remains to be done and why any change in direction is necessary.

We will review inherited projects based on results, feasibility and Guam's long-term interests, not whose name is attached to them.

Leadership sometimes means beginning something new. It also means having the discipline to finish what is already worth finishing.

Terlaje-Perez: The Terlaje-Perez administration will review current or planned projects on their merits, preserve what remains useful, correct any problems and move forward with a public timeline that shows what will be completed and what will depend on future administrations.

First is the new hospital. We will review the studies, designs, financing and procurement work already completed and use whatever can responsibly, swiftly and economically move forward.

Second is disaster resilience, including energy and water infrastructure. Specifically, ensuring minimal interruption of critical water, power, and communication by hardening power lines serving critical facilities and water wells, and protecting generators and pumping systems for wells and communication.

Third is the infrastructure needed for housing. We will continue viable sewer, water, power and road projects and programs that allow families to maximize the number of residences on property they already own and increase residential leases on CLTC lands.

Many Guam residents, particularly younger people and skilled professionals, leave the island for opportunities elsewhere, while Guam continues to recruit workers from abroad to fill critical positions. What would your administration change to make building a life on Guam economically competitive with leaving? Identify policies on wages, housing, career opportunities, quality of life and measurable results?

Terlaje-Perez: People will stay when they can earn a good living, afford a home and rely on healthcare, schools, and other basic services.

The Terlaje/Perez administration would expand pathways into skilled, higher-paying careers that remain unfilled and in high demand by training electricians, plant operators, journeymen, technicians, engineers, farmers, nurses and medical professionals, scientists, IT and cybersecurity professionals and others for growing Guam’s diverse industries.

Expanding pre -apprenticeships as early as middle school and expanding offerings to industrial arts and STEM fields at the high school level must lead to apprenticeships, employment, and wage growth and job diversification.

Our administration will make housing more attainable by investing in infrastructure, putting permitting online, expanding first-time homebuyer assistance and launching a build-your-own-home program with pre-approved plans, permit assistance and financing support.

We would continue to pause increases in residential taxes and incentivize affordable housing and long-term rentals. For residents in crisis, we would maximize shelters and emergency housing, shelter every unhoused child and connect people with healthcare, employment assistance, rehabilitation and social services.

The Terlaje-Perez administration would prioritize access to health care by connecting our people to existing programs and developing supplemental programs through cooperatives for ineligible residents.

Our administration will expand preventive care and public health through Northern and Southern community clinics and school-based check-ups for children and build a modern hospital in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.

We would facilitate access to federal benefits for veterans, work toward rebasing Medicaid rates through a State Plan Amendment and advocate removal of Medicaid caps with the Territories Health Equity Act, and promulgate assisted living facility regulations.

Ada-Calvo: We cannot simply tell our young people to stay on Guam. We must give them reasons to stay. That begins with affordability and opportunity.

Housing must become attainable again. Our HOMES First Plan targets thousands of additional homes by addressing permitting delays, infrastructure, construction costs, workforce constraints, financing and land availability.

Housing development also stimulates private investment and jobs while helping address one of the largest pressures on the cost of living.

We need an economy capable of producing better-paying careers. That means rebuilding tourism, maximizing local participation in federal investment, expanding healthcare, trade, technology and other private-sector industries, supporting entrepreneurship and small business, and aligning GCC, UOG and our schools with the careers Guam actually needs.

Wages matter, but government cannot sustainably raise living standards simply by imposing higher costs on employers. The stronger path is expanding the economy, increasing productivity, reducing unnecessary business costs and creating competition for skilled workers, while building career pathways that

allow people to earn more as their skills increase.

Quality of life matters just as much. Reliable utilities, safer communities, good schools, accessible healthcare, childcare, recreation, functioning roads and a government that works all influence whether a family chooses Guam.

We will measure whether our policies are working by tracking housing affordability and production, private-sector wages, labor-force participation, job creation, professional vacancies, locally trained workers entering critical occupations, and population and migration trends.

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