GUAM
Pacific News Center
Written by Janela Carrera
Vice Speaker BJ Cruz explains why his bill failed and no one could use the two-year opportunity to go after the church.
Guam – Vice Speaker BJ Cruz is accusing Archbishop Anthony Apuron of pulling the strings on a bill passed six years ago that sought to lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes.
Cruz says that on the session floor, other senators were on the phone with the archbishop taking orders from him to add poison pill amendments to the bill.
It was in 2010 when Vice Speaker BJ introduced a bill to lift the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse crimes. On K57’s Mornings with Patti this morning, the senator said when he introduced the legislation, it only contained two pages.
“The bill ended up a little over six pages. They added literally almost four pages of restrictions,” said Cruz.
Cruz says the senators who added the amendments were doing so at the behest of Archbishop Anthony Apuron.
“I don’t mind saying that publicly because I was sitting next to a couple of my colleagues and I could hear the archbishop’s voice directing the instruction of these amendments. So they gutted the bill,” Cruz said.
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