GUAM
Pacific Daily News
October 11, 2017
By Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood on Wednesday granted Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s request for more time to file his objection to a recommendation that sex abuse lawsuits filed against Apuron by former altar boys should not be dismissed.
Four lawsuits alleged that Apuron sexually abused or raped altar boys in the 1970s while Apuron was the parish priest in Agat. They are among 131 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far in local and federal court, and Apuron is the only one that’s not pursuing mediation and out-of-court settlement.
Apuron’s original deadline to file an objection was Oct. 11, but the chief judge extended the filing deadline up to Oct. 25 as Apuron requested.
Attorney Jacqueline Terlaje, counsel for Apuron, asked for additional time, citing complex constitutional law issues that District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan addressed in his Sept. 27 report and recommendation.
Manibusan recommended that the chief judge not to dismiss the lawsuits against Apuron because the claims are not time-barred and do not infringe upon the archbishop’s due process rights.
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