GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Bill Pesch
September 18, 2016
There are times I enjoy being proven wrong. Because of recent action taken by the Legislature, I am forced to eat my words. But what a delicious meal it is!
In my June 27 and July 4 columns, I predicted dim prospects for those seeking justice for past incidents of child sexual abuse committed by persons in positions of trust. I wrote these columns in response to the numerous accusations pending against Archbishop Anthony Apuron by several former altar boys who allege he sexually abused them in the 1970s.
I felt that a bill introduced by Sen. Frank Blas Jr., supposedly to extend the civil statute of limitations for filing sexual abuse lawsuits, was “glaringly ineffective.” In fact, I saw it as nothing more than political posturing meant to capture votes while protecting the Catholic Church from any meaningful sanctions. Thankfully, Blas’ subsequent actions, and those of the entire Legislature, have proven me wrong.
For many years, Guam law provided that a victim of child sex abuse had two years to file a lawsuit against the alleged abuser. Obviously, because of the nature of child abuse, this time limitation was unrealistic and did little to discourage sexual abuse against children. In 2011, the Legislature passed a bill that temporarily amended the law and gave past sexual abuse victims two additional years to file their cases. As initially proposed by Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz, the bill would have allowed victims to sue the abuser as well as any grossly negligent “institution, agency, firm, business, corporation … that owed a duty of care to the victim.”
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