Uncle Manny

Biography Of Manuel Lizama Dela Cruz
Also Known as
“TUN MANET OR POP”

Tun Manet Dela Cruz, (Manet Lasso) of Tinian was born on July 8, 1921, behind the old German administration building next to Taga house Park. His mother was Dolores Lizama Dela Cruz and his father Pedro Salas Dela Cruz, both from Guam. Manet grew up on Tinian during the Japanese Administration. One of the hobbies he learned while growing up was how to make things from the local natural resources such as the coconut trees, bamboo and nigas, all plants that grow in the limestone coastal zone around the islands.

Tun Manet began his handicraft trade with his original creation of Love Birds carved from mature coconuts. In this handicraft, the upper portion of the coconut husk is carved into two Love Birds, while the bottom portion of the coconut husk and the shell s a container for candies or other snacks. He was also famous for the turtle he carved from the coconut shells. Tun Manet was also clever at making a rat trap form bamboo; a trade he learned from the Japanese administration, which was used the bamboo rat trap in an attempt to eradicate rats from the sugar cane plantation on Tinian.

Tun Munet disappeared from his daughter’s house on September 30, 2000. The island of Tinian was searched extensively to find him. But his body was never found. Many people believe that Tun Manet spirit lives among the native plants of Tinian, the coconut tree, bamboo and nigas plants on Tinian.