Benjamin Cruz
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The Honorable Benjamin Cruz |
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|---|---|
| Vice Speaker of the 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Guam Legislature | |
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Assumed office January 5, 2009 |
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| Preceded by | David L.G. Shimizu |
| Senator in the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Guam Legislature | |
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Assumed office January 3, 2005 |
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| Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam | |
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In office April 21, 1999 – August 31, 2001 |
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| Appointed by | Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez |
| Preceded by | Peter Charles Siguenza, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Peter Charles Siguenza, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Benjamin Joseph Franquez Cruz March 3, 1951 Guam |
| Nationality | Guamanian |
| Political party | Democratic Party of Guam |
| Residence | Tumon, Guam |
| Alma mater |
Claremont Men's College Santa Clara University School of Law |
| Profession | Politician |
| Website | senatorbjcruz |
Benjamin Joseph "BJ" Franquez Cruz (born March 3, 1951) is a judge and politician from Guam and the current vice-speaker of the Guam Legislature since January 2009.
He was born as Benjamin Joseph Franquez Cruz on March 3, 1951 in Guam, he is the second child and only son of Juan Quenga Cruz ("Tanaguan") and Antonia Cruz Franquez. His father, who had just been elected Commissioner (Mayor) of Piti, was killed by Marcelo "Mar" C. Biscoe in 1956 when Cruz was only five years old. He is the paternal grandson of Jose Santos Cruz and Marcela Quidachay Quenga, also a maternal grandson of Vicente Iglesias Franquez and Rosa Cruz Franquez of Piti, and also the nephew of the late Jose Cruz Franquez and Barcilia "Barcy" Taitano-Franquez of Mongmong-Toto-Maite.
In 1960, while in Guam, Cruz’s mother married Vicente Cruz Guerrero ("Tico") where he became as a stepfather, and then they resettled the whole family in California in 1962. They returned to Guam intermittently, where Cruz attended grade school at St. Francis School in Yona.
He went to St. John Bosco High School in California until 1968. His undergraduate Bachelor degree in Political Science and Economics was obtained in 1972 from the Claremont Men's College, and his Juris Doctor in 1975 from the Santa Clara University School of Law.
Upon graduation in 1975, Cruz returned to Guam to work as Consumer Counsel in the Attorney General’s Office.
Four months later, Governor of Guam Ricardo J. Bordallo, who had just begun his first term in office with Lieutenant Governor of Guam Rudy Sablan, asked Cruz to serve as the Governor’s Legal Counsel, which he did for Bordallo’s first term through January 1979.
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