Silence on allegations of violence

It has been nearly two months since Joselito Marquez said Republican Senator Telo Taitague assaulted him at the Guam Congress Building when he tried to serve her with court orders. The evidence the crime happened – surveillance footage from a camera faced directly at the corridor where the assault occurred – has been “destroyed,” according to information another senator received. When it was destroyed, for what reason, and by whom are all questions legislative leaders are ignoring.

The files were related to Ms. Taitague’s role as the defendant in a lawsuit fellow Republican Senator Tom Fisher filed against her for her alleged violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

In a declaration of non-service Mr. Marquez made to the Superior Court of Guam, Mr. Marquez alleged that on July 15 at about 3 p.m., after waiting hours for Ms. Taitague to exit a public hearing, she emerged and he followed her to one of the two public exits at the Guam Congress Building so he could serve her.

“I attempted to serve the Respondent as she exited the building when she shoved me out and shut the door in front of me yelling, ‘You’re not allowed in here.’ I stumbled and was caught off guard by the assault,” he wrote in his declaration made under penalty of perjury to the court.

Kandit two weeks ago asked Ms. Taitague about the allegations. She never responded to the questions.

The Guam Congress Building’s first floor has three exits, but only two of them are accessible to the public. They include the front doors, and a north-facing side door adjacent to the Public Hearing Room. Both those exits have surveillance cameras pointed directly at them. Those cameras, according to legislative sources, are connected to a recording system that saves footage for 30 days.

According to Mr. Fisher, in July he issued a FOIA request to the legislature’s executive director for production of the surveillance footage.

“Oddly, although they preserve the videos for 30 days, this one was ‘destroyed,'” Mr. Fisher told Kandit. “It’s a ‘head scratcher’ says the [executive director]. Ask me, Barnett ordered it destroyed.”

“Barnett” refers to Senator Chris Malafunkshun Barnett, whose chairmanship of the legislative Rules Committee makes him the de facto head of legislative operations. Those operations are led by an executive director, Joe San Agustin (not to be mistaken for the senator of the same name).

Kandit on Saturday emailed Mr. San Agustin and copied Mr. Barnett asking for an interview this week and for Mr. San Agustin to take us through how footage can conceivably be ‘destroyed’ from the legislature’s system.

Mr. San Agustin did not return multiple calls Tuesday from Kandit to get answers on the scandal. [About an hour after this story published, Mr. San Agustin did reply to Kandit’s Saturday email to apologize for not responding sooner. Though he did not confirm his availability for an interview or provide any answers to our questions, he did commit to responding and said that the reason he did not return phone calls Tuesday was because he has been on leave tending to a sick family member.]