US appeals court awards $40 M to 9,539 Marcos victims

Thousands of Filipino human rights abuse victims can share $40 million in a New York brokerage account that belonged to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a United States federal appeals court said.

"This is sweet victory for Filipino victims of human rights abuse," Robert Swift, one of two lawyers for the plaintiffs, said in a statement distributed in Manila. "We struggled with scant resources for years to overcome many legal obstacles."

Each of the 9,539 Marcos victims will receive $3,000 to $3,500 if the money is distributed, the victims’ other lawyer, Rod Domingo Jr., said.

However, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is considering a compromise offer from Imelda Marcos to end the global hunt and litigation for billions of dollars in estimated assets allegedly embezzled during her husband’s 20-year-rule.

The ruling in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday is part of a long battle for plaintiffs who filed a class-action suit against the Marcos estate in 1986, the year Marcos was deposed as president.

Lawyers for the victims filed a suit in 2000 against Merrill Lynch, a New York Brokerage house, which for 28 years had invested money for an unknown Panamanian corporation secretly owned by Ferdinand Marcos.

Despite the lack of evidence to back up its claim, the government repeatedly sought to prevent a US court from adjudicating the case, forcing over nine appeals to the US Circuit Court of Appeals.

The original $35 million deposited with the US court in 2000 is believed to have grown to at least $40 million.

The main obstacle to the recovery of the Merrill Lynch account was the Philippine government, which claimed the money belonged to its treasury, but the court said it had no legal right to the account, which Marcos opened in 1972 with a $2 million deposit.

In its decision, the court "derided" the "rough and rapacious rule" of Marcos, "who often exercised arbitrary power" against victims of torture, summary execution and disappearance.

The US appeals court found that the Philippine government’s claim to the money was barred by the statute of limitations. The court also noted the symbolic significance of some tangible recovery of money to victims of abuse.

"It is sad that the Philippine government delayed this litigation for so many years with outrageous claims that the US court ultimately found had no merit," Domingo said.

He pointed out that "the government has never made a genuine offer to compensate the victims, and their only resort was to seek justice in the United States."

Marie Hilao-Enriquez, one of the Filipinos who sought compensation from Marcos’ estate to settle human rights abuses, also lauded the US appeals court’s decision.

"We welcome this," she said.

In 1995, a Honolulu jury awarded the group $2 billion after finding Marcos responsible for summary executions, disappearances and torture.

Hilao-Enriquez said that more than a decade after the Honolulu ruling, "we have not received a single cent."

"It is also about time for the (current administration) to act on the victims’ efforts to get their share of the Marcos escrow funds," she added, referring to the $683 million of Marcos’ Swiss bank deposits that have been recovered and transferred to the national treasury.

Last year, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Appeals Court, which covers Hawaii and eight other western states, ruled that the victims had no right to recover the Marcos Swiss funds.

President Arroyo has promised to give human rights victims $200 million out of that amount, but the package remains undistributed because amendments would need to be made in the country’s land reform legislation. By law, all alleged ill-gotten wealth recovered from the Marcoses should fund land reform.

The victims are also pursuing other avenues to collect the judgment.

They are trying to seize $22 million in Marcos assets located in a bank in Singapore, and other properties in various countries.

Negotiations ongoing

Meanwhile, PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede, the agency’s official tasked to negotiate compromise deals with the Marcoses, told reporters that he will not comment on the statement made by Swift and Domingo.

"I would like to get hold of the decision first before making any comment," Abcede said.

The government wants to reach an out-of-court settlement deal over the Marcos family’s fortune. The government initially estimated that the Marcos wealth was worth up to $10 billion in 1986, when he and his family fled to Hawaii after a military-backed popular revolt. Marcos died there three years later.

But the PCGG said earlier this year that the estate could now be worth at least 10 times more. Some of the assets are thought to be in banks in the US, Switzerland and Liechtenstein under the names of dummy foundations.

So far, only $690 million have been recovered and turned over by Swiss banks to the Philippine government.

Abcede said he had held "exploratory talks" with Marcos’ lawyer Robert Sison.

Abcede said both agreed to come up with a draft agreement on the stolen wealth.

Sison "will submit to me the first draft. I will look at it. These are all exploratory," Abcede said, adding that he had also asked Sison to submit a list of assets held by the Marcos family.

"We have to be very careful with provisions (of the deal), in the wordings and implications," he said.

Imelda, who was famously reported to own 3,000 pairs of shoes, was allowed to fly home in the 1990s with her children and they still enjoy some political clout in the country.

She still faces numerous graft cases in local courts, but no Marcos family member or any of their cronies have ever been jailed for corruption.

Abcede said that every now and then, the PCGG receives information regarding secret Marcos accounts in Europe and other countries. Imelda herself was not aware of the extent of her husband’s wealth and it was only when he died that she started looking into it, he said.

Abcede said Imelda told him that their family’s wealth is enough to pay the national debt of more than P3 trillion.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. urged the government to ensure that the negotiations are transparent.

"If at all, (the) Marcos wealth civil compromise must be based on its total, not partial, value. (The) process must be open and transparent, otherwise people will be the losers for it," he said. — With Christina Mendez, AP, AFP