GUAM
KUAM
Updated: Jun 20, 2016
By Krystal Paco
Now four individuals have surfaced in recent weeks accusing Archbishop Anthony Apuron of rape or molestation. While decades have passed since the alleged incidents, many have questioned why the victims waited so long to come forward. Here’s what medical professionals have to say.
Experts call the condition “delayed disclosure”. Maresa Aguon explained, “We get people who come in decades after the abuse has occurred. Something prompts them to come forward. Something prompts them to tell somebody.” As program manager for Healing Hearts Crisis Center, Guam’s only crisis center since 1993, in light of recent accusations made against the archbishop, she says victims will often wait before reporting, especially because Guam is such a small island community.
“A lot of times these children are abused by somebody in power or by somebody that they love and trust. They understand these complexities. Even as children as young as 10 to 12 years old, they understand certain things such as if I come forward, people may not believe me. Sometimes they’re told explicitly that nobody’s going to believe them,” she explained.
This appears to be the case for most of Apuron’s accusers: Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, and Roland Sondia. They are joined by Doris Concepcion, whose son Joseph “Sonny” Quinata who was on his deathbed over a decade ago when he confided in his mother he, too, was a victim. Each of the surviving victims reported trusting Apuron, who was a priest at Mount Carmel Church in Agat at the time of the alleged incidents.
Each of the men has expressed no interest in prosecuting Apuron, but instead have demanded he step down as head of the Agana archdiocese as well as make a public apology.
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