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Torres on sex abuse reports: Take allegations seriously
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Posted on Aug 18 2020
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres wants the Public School System as well as all private schools in the CNMI to have a protocol in place on measures that need to be taken in case of allegations of sexual abuse concerning students.
This comes soon after Torres asked the Office of the Attorney General to look into how PSS handles and manages allegations of sexual abuse of its students. In the letter, the governor stressed that those who have been victims of sexual assault by teachers or individuals of authority within the PSS deserve justice.
At the media briefing last Thursday, Torres stated that the administration has “always been hearing complaints” of sex abuse of students and that they “saw a case again a few months ago.” Stating that adults should be the “first responders” to children, the governor stated that he wants to make sure that there are protocols in place, and that actions are being taken to address these complaints. “…It’s important that we take this matter seriously because how do we protect our children, if we don’t take what is being said around seriously?” he said.
In early August, the governor outlined having “greater safety for students” one of his four legislative priorities, where he asked the Legislature to review and strengthen provisions of the laws dealing with the use of school authority to sexually abuse minors, to address allegations of sexual abuse of students.
According to Torres, the concerns have not been addressed satisfactorily, and so he is demanding stricter penalties for the sexual abuse of minors, and for strengthening the elimination of the statute of limitations on sexual abuse of minors.
“Everything that we’re doing always starts back with our children as our future. They are our future, they are our future leaders. We’re doing this for them, protect their environment because it’s for our children, the next generation. How do we provide that if we can’t take the allegations seriously?” he pointed out.
