Martial law victims’ lawyer seeks settlement of Marcos assets

MANILA, Philippines — The American lawyer of martial law victims yesterday continued to ask the Duterte government for a settlement on the $41 million in assets recovered from the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the US. 

Lawyer Robert Swift wants part of the so-called Arelma funds to go to members of the Hawaii class action suit, who were awarded nearly $2 billion in 1995.

He said the government could also “divide the money” among the martial law victims.

“I’ve been trying to meet with President Duterte to discuss the settlement but so far, there is no settlement under discussion,” Swift said in an interview with ABS-CBN.

In 2014, the Supreme Court affirmed the government’s ownership of the $40-million Arelma funds.

The Arelma funds represented assets of the late dictator originally amounting to $2 million deposited with Merrill Lynch Securities in New York in 1972 in the name of Arelma Foundation, a Panamanian firm.

The funds had grown to $35 million when discovered by the Presidential Commission on Good Goverment in 2000.

Swift is in the country to wrap up the third round of distribution of checks worth $13.75 million to some 6,500 human rights victims.

The amount came from the proceeds of the sale of paintings recovered from a former secretary of Imelda Marcos.

Swift said 90 percent of the checks had been distributed nationwide since May 1, amounting to $1,500 each.