FM rights victims send SOS to Estrada

Distraught, tired and worried, thousands of human rights victims appealed to President Estrada yesterday to do everything he can so that their $150-million deal with the Marcoses can be awarded to them this month.

Members of the group called Claimants 1081 disclosed that some of their colleagues have died while others have become too old and sick to keep up the fight for compensation from the Marcoses.

They vowed to send the President hundreds of letters a day to pressure him.

"We are hopeful that justice will be served," said claimant Gilda Narciso. "We will never stop. We believe that the payment means an acceptance of guilt."

While they are keeping themselves busy, their American lawyer said the claimants have approved of his decision to terminate the $150- million settlement should the Marcoses fail to come up with such an amount on or before Feb. 28.

By terminating the agreement, the victims would seek to enforce a 1995 ruling by a US district court, awarding the claimants some $1.9 billion. The amount grew to $2.7 billion because of interest.

Lawyer Robert Swift said the deal could have been settled if not for a decision by the Sandiganbayan, disallowing the government to withdraw $150 million from the $630-million escrow account at the Philippine National Bank.

The lawyer warned that unless the human rights victims are compensated, the Swiss Supreme Court might recall the escrow account.

As the Feb. 28 deadline nears, the dispute between Claimants 1081 and the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban said Detensiyon at Para sa Amnestiya (SELDA) heated up.

Both parties have been exchanging tirades ever since a US court awarded the victims such an amount of compensation and when Swift drafted a compromise deal with the Marcoses.

Lawyer Rod Domingo of Claimants 1081 has been accusing SELDA's lawyer, Romeo Capulong, of spreading lies regarding the settlement.

SELDA, on the other hand, scored Swift for compromising justice as well as the interests of the claimants.

Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez and Capulong said Swift is only after the money he can get from the settlement, which could reach $35 million.

Chavez also accused Swift of extorting money from the Philippine government by threatening to go to the Swiss court to recall the escrow deposit.

He said the American lawyer could not file such a case in Switzerland because his clients were not parties to the case and he was not the recognized lawyer.

Chavez then appealed to the Presidential Commission on Good Government to refrain from conducting any activities that would pressure the courts to rule in favor of Claimants 1081.

"The ownership of the escrow account, according to the Sandiganbayan, is still going to be determined," Chavez said.

SELDA had firmly rejected the $150-million settlement from the very start.

In a statement, it averred that the belated position of Swift to terminate the $150 million deal only vindicated SELDA's stand -- "that any settlement by any means if penned by the cunning duo of Imelda Marcos and the Estrada government ... will just be a legal document of grave insult to the human rights victims and the historic struggle of Filipinos against the Marcos dictatorship and fascism."

SELDA stressed that the Marcos family had constantly held on to their innocence and would never let go of a single centavo without a legal declaration of their exoneration.

"Any agreement with the Marcoses without proper consultation and primary consideration of the victims' interest is downright immoral and complete treachery of the rights and interests of 9,539 human rights victims," SELDA said.

In other developments yesterday, former Supreme Court Justice Camilo Quiason, legal counsel of the Lopez family, took exception to a reported claim by Mrs. Marcos in a Honolulu court that the late Eugenio "Geny" Lopez Jr. had acted as her trustee.

Quiason called the claim incredible, considering the late industrialist was one of the human rights claimants.

He also recalled that Lopez had to escape from Fort Bonifacio, where he was kept as one of the political prisoners of the late strongman.

Quiason stressed that Lopez did not have any business deals with the Marcoses.

"If Mrs. Marcos was referring to the Meralco shares signed away by the late Eugenio Lopez Sr., in a futile attempt to get Geny out of prison, that was made with only a downpayment of P10,000," Quiason said.

"The arbitration board that ordered the return of the Meralco shares to the Lopezes found that the 'sale' was made under duress, preceded by the military takeover of Meralco and the freezing of the Meralco rates," he added.

Quiason said the Lopezes suffered severely at the hands of the late dictator and lost almost everything during martial law.

The former justice stressed that "it is the cruelty of the highest order for the former first lady to include the name of Geny Lopez in her list of trustees."