Court blocks sale of hotel, Island Equipment
By Steve Limtiaco
This week’s pending sale of the Pacific Star Hotel and Island Equipment Company, to settle a $32 million bank loan, has been blocked by Superior Court of Guam Judge Arthur Barcinas, who on Tuesday granted property owner Guam Industrial Services’ request for a temporary restraining order.
The Bank of Guam loaned the money to Guam Industrial Services in 2016 in order to pay off the company’s existing loans and to rebuild the company’s “Big Blue” floating drydock at a shipyard in China.
According to Barcinas order, Guam Industrial Services could suffer irreparable harm if it loses those two businesses, and the company has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits for at least one of its claims, based on the evidence.
Bank wants to sell PacStar hotel, Island Equipment, citing bad loan
By Steve Limtiaco
The Bank of Guam plans to sell the Pacific Star Hotel and Island Equipment Company this week, after business owner Guam Industrial Services defaulted on a $32 million loan from the bank, according to documents filed in the Superior Court of Guam.
Guam Industrial Services last week petitioned the court for a temporary restraining order, stopping the sale.
Judge Arthur Barcinas held a hearing on the petition Monday afternoon. The hotel is scheduled to be sold Wednesday, and Island Equipment is scheduled to be sold Thursday. Barcinas said he will issue a decision Tuesday on whether to grant a restraining order.
Getting an abortion on Guam, a remote US territory in the Pacific Ocean, has never been simple. Before 2016 there were only two abortion doctors on the entire island, and anti-abortion protesters would often stand outside their clinics with signs. But since 2018, it has been impossible. That year Guam lost its last abortion provider when Dr William Freeman retired and moved away, and the doctor who took over refused to conduct them. This means.
Bevacqua summarized documented instances of abortion among CHamorus in the early 1900s.
He noted the 1990 law banning abortions in Guam introduced by then-Sen. Elizabeth Arriola, which was later struck down by the court. Bevacqua highlighted the efforts of women who were against the abortion ban, including attorney Anita Arriola, then-president of Guam Nurse’s Association and now-Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, and his mother, Rita Lujan Bevacqua, who succeeded Leon Guerrero as president of the Guam Nurse’s Association.
“With the current lack of access to legal abortion in Guam, the same concerns that animated opposition to the 1990 ban are once again relevant,” Bevacqua stated. “In my opinion, forcing people in Guam to travel several thousands of miles, … to obtain care when access to safe and legal abortion can and should be made available on the island imposes a dignity harm on Guamanians.”