A Saipanese at heart

Ricky Itaas considers Saipan his second home. After 16 years of living on the island the sales manager of Mid-Pac Micronesia has embraced the community as his own.

Fluent in Chamorro, the 42-year-old Itaas is often mistaken as a local boy not only because he speaks the language but also due to the way he conducts himself in the company of the island’s original settlers.

“I don’t have any biases. I see people as they are. I treat them the same way I want to be treated—with respect. That’s probably the reason I get along well with just about everyone on island. And of course, it helps that you speak their language.”

The Quezon City native said he learned to speak Chamorro from best friends Tony Reyes and Luis Kapileo starting in 1996.

He said the two used to laugh at him because of his funny intonation but gradually – through the help of the two, co-workers and kind-hearted folk that had the patience to teach him—Itaas has become quite the local speaker.

Itaas landed on Saipan in early 1988, a mere six months after earning his Bachelor of Science in Management and Industrial Engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology, a premiere engineering college in the Philippines.

He said he was able to get an opportunity to come to Saipan after Frank Villagomez invited him to visit. He met Villagomez when his employer in the Philippines asked him to tour the Saipan businessman around Manila.

“I owe a lot to the Villagomez family for my coming here. They bought my ticket and let me live in their house with free board and lodging until I finally found a job.”

That first job had Itaas working at the Mobil Aviation Terminal in the petroleum company’s airport facility.

For the better part of 16 years, Itaas has found employment in an assortment of jobs with some of the island’s top companies.

The chance to work for Mid-Pac knocked on his door in 1994 and he stayed there until the turn of the millennium when he transferred to Triple J Motors.

Late last year, Itaas got a call from Mid-Pac offering better career advancement and he signed on for his second tour of duty with the company.

Along the way, the father of two has been involved in various community efforts, mostly concentrated in basketball.

A mainstay of his college’s intramural teams and a known long-range shooter in PABA leagues in the 1990s, Itaas hung his basketball jersey for good in 2001 after a minor back problem forced him to retire.

Since then, Itaas has focused his energies in his spare time refereeing games. Actually, even before he quit playing basketball, he already had dozens of PABA games under his belt but it was after 2001 that he got real serious and in 2002 he got his first certification.

A year later, Itaas became one of only a handful of officials on Saipan to receive Level II referee certification, which is recognized by FIBA Oceania.

“Basketball has been a big part of my life. It was painful to leave the game when I got injured. But the refereeing thing came up and I took it and I’m still involved in basketball although in a different capacity.”

Come to think of it, Itaas reminisces, it was the sport that nurtured him during his lonely first months on Saipan.

He said it was playing with former Manila commercial players Frank Lazaro, George Santos and many others in pick-up and PABA games on island that lifted his spirits and made it easier to be far away from his family and friends.

“I’ve really grown to love this place. Although it’s not really cheap to live here because the standard of living is a bit high, I still want to work and stay here because I like the people, I respect the culture, and its always peaceful and quiet. It’s a great island to raise a family.”

Whether refereeing games in his familiar zebra-stripe uniform at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium or simply staying at home with his family, Itaas has indeed found his piece of fulfillment on this small patch of earth.