MANILA, Philippines - Martial law victims led by the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) trooped yesterday to the office of the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) in Quezon City to demand the resignation of its top officials for allegedly not doing their job.
SELDA chair Marie Hilao-Enriquez said, “The Noynoy Aquino appointed HRVCB is sitting on their tasks and remiss in their duties in implementing the law. They are inutile and ineffective. The victims are continuously denied of justice and reparation. Their system is agonizingly slow and inept.”
To date, Enriquez said the board has processed only 23 percent or 17,000 out of the 75,000 total applicants for compensation.
The group also called on President Duterte to expedite justice and indemnification of martial law victims.
She said the government had allowed the hero’s burial for the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City while his victims are left out in the cold crying for justice.
“The law has already been extended for them for another two years of implementation, but with their current snail-paced processing method, there is no way they could finish the job in the next two years. To some degree, the law is continuously being violated,” she added.
The group demanded that HRVCB chair Lina Sarmiento and board members led by Byron Bocar to resign or be removed from office and replaced with more competent officials.
“We demand to replace them with leaders who belong to the victims themselves, who are with them since the start of their struggles, who deeply know the victims, their personal plights and can empathize with them,” Enriquez said.
She said from the US Court in Hawaii to local courts and in Congress, Marcos’ victims have waged a long and arduous struggle to ensure that the dictator and his family are made answerable for the numerous crimes they have committed against the people.
Enriquez said the martial law victims have won their case in the US Hawaii Court on Sept. 22, 1992, where Marcos was found guilty of crimes against the people.
And again on Feb. 25, 2013 when Republic Act 10368 or the Martial Law Victims Recognition and Reparation Act was passed into law, recognizing the victims and awarding them with reparations and indemnification.
“However, up to this time, despite the law having been passed three years ago, it has not been effectively implemented and the martial law victims have not received any reparations due them,” SELDA said.
Sarmiento said she welcomed SELDA members yesterday and “invited them to discuss the matter and other issues they need to be enlightened about but the latter refused.”
She said they already had a meeting last October. “We laid our cards on the table and I thought they understood. They even agreed to help us lobby for legislation to address resource constraints.”
Sarmiento explained that the board has been carefully and strictly evaluating all applications of claimants.
Next rally on Dec. 10
Groups opposing the burial of Marcos at the LNMB will stage another protest rally during the commemoration of International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.
The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA) that organized the Nov. 25 protest in Rizal Park, Manila called on all martial law victims, survivors and claimants to join the third protest.
“Let our numbers stand as the living testimony of the crimes of the US-backed Marcos dictatorship. Let our scars serve as evidence of the atrocities of the dictatorship. – With Janvic Mateo