Child sex abuse talks continue

By Robert Q. Tupaz
Guam Daily Post
July 31, 2016

http://www.postguam.com/news/local/child-sex-abuse-talks-continue/article_0794caa0-5705-11e6-b81d-cf472a2d4840.html

This morning the committee on public safety and the judiciary is to resume a public hearing on Bill 326-33 which seeks to eliminate the statute of limitations for civil claims involving sexually abused children. Tomorrow, the committee will hear the nomination of a magistrate hoped to help with the caseload at the Superior Court of Guam.

Before the nomination hearing of Benjamin Sison to the post of magistrate on Tuesday, the committee will continue its hearing from last Thursday during which 13 people provided testimony in support of Bill 326. In testimony provided, each speaker asked lawmakers to pass the bill and to pass it quickly so that victims can bring their abusers to justice and to prevent abusers from hiding behind institutions that may protect them.

Included among those who testified in support of Bill 326 were Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla and Roland Sondia, who were joined by John “Champ” Quinata, the brother of the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. Denton, Quintanilla, Sondia and Sonny Quinata are all alleged child sex abuse victims of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, when they were altar servers at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

The continuation of the hearing on Bill 326-33 is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today, Aug. 1, in the public hearing room of the Guam Legislature.

Tomorrow, Aug. 2, at 5:30 p.m., the committee will convene a confirmation hearing on the appointment of attorney Benjamin C. Sison Jr. to serve as magistrate judge. Sison was appointed on May 2, by Chief Justice Robert Torres. Sison’s name was put forward by the Guam Bar Association along with two other nominees.

Torres told the legislature that Sison comes qualified for the post. “Attorney Sison satisfies the requisite statutory qualifications and has the competence, integrity, experience and temperament to be successful as a magistrate,” Torres stated.

Sison is a 1990 graduate of Boston Law College and worked with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and for several law firms in Guam. He is currently a referee with the Superior Court of Guam as well as the primary of his law firm, Sison P.C.

Torres said Sison has a breadth of knowledge in all areas of law from civil to criminal, and is an adjunct professor at the Guam Community College, teaching criminal law.

In 2015, the judiciary was successful in providing broader powers for local magistrates in line with powers that their federal counterparts have such as disposing of procedural motions in criminal and civil matters, and addressing discovery.

The magistrate may also assist in civil cases so that they could handle initial scheduling conferences, and preside over pretrial conferences and case scheduling, discovery disputes and motions, and settlement proceedings.