by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Another round of confirmation hearings got underway at the Guam Legislature for Governor Eddie Calvo's appointees. Up first today was the governor's nominee for the Department of Labor, Leah Beth Naholowaa. Several individuals appeared to testify including Chamorro rights activists, who testified against her appointment including Trini Torres who felt she might show favoritism toward Filipinos.

Naholowaa is serving as the president of the Filipino Community of Guam. Others like Ivan Carbullido - whose children are half-Filipino - said that senators shouldn't look at her race but rather her record.

Naholowaa heads to the Labor Department from the University of Guam where she served as administrator of UOG's Career Development Office. She had been with UOG for ten years. She has a bachelor of arts in communication degree and a master of public administration degree from the UOG. She is presently working on her doctoral dissertation in educational leadership in higher education from Argosy University.

Lawmakers pressed Naholowaa on several issues including her priorities and plans for the buildup, one of which she plans to make H2-b enforcement a priority, but stressed her staff needs more training and funding.