GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com December 22, 2016
The Archdiocese of Agana received nearly 600 pages of documents related to the development of a law that lifted the civil statute of limitations on child sex abuse — which made it possible for at least 14 former altar boys to separately sue the Catholic Church over allegations that priests sexually abused them.
Sen. Frank B. Aguon Jr. released 589 pages of documents, in electronic form, related to Bill 326-33, which Aguon’s committee worked on. The Legislature passed the bill with a 13-0 vote. Gov. Eddie Calvo signed it into law on Sept. 23.
The documents include the committee’s invitation to attend the public hearings on the bill and written testimony on the bill, along with written testimony of former altar boys who publicly accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and former island priest Rev. Louis Brouillard of sexually abusing or raping them decades ago.
Aguon responded to church legal counsel John Terlaje’s Dec. 12 submission of a Freedom of Information Act request related to the bill. Introduced by Sen. Frank Blas Jr., the measure lifted the statute of limitations on civil cases related to child sexual abuse, allowing victims to sue abusers and institutions that supported them.
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