HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Board members for the Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency have approved 110 delegates for the 2024 Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, or FestPac, none of whom were Frank “Ko” San Nicolas.
Within the last few months, an ongoing campaign had been urging CAHA board members not to support San Nicolas as a delegate to represent Guam in the upcoming festival and cultural showcase in Hawaii, reviving sexual assault allegations against him.
San Nicolas did face criminal sexual conduct charges in two cases, one in 2021 and another in 2022, but he was acquitted of charges in both cases.
A Change.org petition that was calling for San Nicolas to be excluded from Guam’s delegation stated that regardless of acquittal, several survivors still maintained that he allegedly violated them.
Last month, the CAHA board decided to conduct a new callout for Guam’s delegation. Several members of the public attended that meeting, including San Nicolas and one of his accusers.
On Tuesday, when the board met to approve delegates, CAHA Chair Monica Guzman said San Nicolas wasn’t recommended to be one of the delegates for Guam, meaning the board didn’t have to vote on whether to accept him.
CAHA officials stated that San Nicolas did apply to be a delegate under the culinary arts genre, however.
Under a prior callout for 2024 FestPac delegates, San Nicolas applied under the carving and culinary arts genres, according to CAHA Executive Director Angie Taitague. Before that, in 2016, San Nicolas applied under the traditional healing genre, she added.
At the time of his criminal sexual conduct trials, San Nicolas was known as a local suruhånu, or spiritual healer, and the accusations against him involved actions that allegedly took place during healing or spiritual practice events.
San Nicolas was also terminated from his job as a Port Authority of Guam police officer while facing the criminal sexual conduct charges. Post files state that the firing occurred after pretrial conditions ordered him to be on house arrest and not possess any firearms. San Nicolas did appeal the termination with the Civil Service Commission and was ultimately reinstated after his acquittal.
Amid calls to remove San Nicolas from Guam’s delegation, CAHA sought advice from the Office of the Attorney General regarding its ability to remove a FestPac delegate and what rights an individual may have as a delegate.
The OAG stated that individuals do not have a vested right to be part of the FestPac delegation and that selection and participation in the event is at the discretion of the CAHA board and its members.
The CAHA board considered two options: to approve or disapprove – in whole or part – a delegation list from 2020 or conduct a new callout for delegates as recommended by an assistant attorney general.
The board decided in March to proceed with a new callout to present an opportunity for members of the community who may not have been able to apply initially in 2019.
