Justice for victims of Martial Law; Reinstate names of delisted 2,013 from the original list of victims!

Martial Law victims and members of the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) held a picket in Makati in front of the office of Atty. Rodrigo Domingo, Filipino co-counsel of Atty. Swift on the class suit against Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, to protest the arbitrary delisting of 2,013 Martial Law victims among the original 9,539 members in the said class suit.

SELDA vehemently denounces this injustice inflicted on the original members of the class suit as another human rights violation to the aging victims of Marcos’ martial law.

With the arbitrary delisting of class members, the victims who are legitimate members of the class suit against Marcos find themselves victims all over again. The arbitrary delisting is tantamount to saying that they are not victims of human rights violations and are therefore not entitled to recognition, justice and indemnification. It denies victims of our legitimacy of status as victims and their claim to justice.

In the letter to Atty. Robert Swift, lead counsel of the class suit against Marcos in Hawaii, it said:

 “You and Atty. Domingo have been heard saying that these 2,013 names were removed from the original list of 9,539 due to incomplete addresses, double entries, class members not confirming their claims when letters were sent them in 1993 and 1999, etc. However, when he was asked for the criteria on how the delisting was done, Atty. Domingo said that for “many other reasons that [he] cannot explain” the court “had approved” this delisting…You have not shown the members of the class action suit any court order to this effect, hence, there is deep suspicion that you and Atty. Domingo have arbitrarily trimmed the original list for your own dubious interests, whatever these are.”

Some class members who were among the original list of victims and who were not included in the Swift-Domingo “masterlist” were Fidel and Rosario Agcaoili, Prof. Joma Sison, Satur Ocampo, Judy Taguiwalo, Josephine Dongail, Bonifacio Ilagan, Carol Araullo, Sonia Brizuela Planas, Rhodora Julian Clemente, Maxima Luneta, Corazon Casambre, Manuel Navarro, Ramon Veluz, Melvin Cayabyab, Jose Barsoles, Carlos Ortega, victims of the Tatalon massacre during the Martial Law period, and many others, especially from the provinces, and who were not given the compensation due them.

The victims who struggled against the construction of the Chico River Dam and operations of the Cellophil Resource Corporation in the Cordilleras were not in the reduced list even though they are among the 9,539 victims who sued Marcos.

Many victims from Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, and Southern Mindanao were also arbitrarily delisted. Many of them belong to the urban and rural poor and are in the twilight of their lives. They spent money to go to the regional centers of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) but their names were not in the so-called masterlist.

SELDA also condemned the various anomalies related to the distribution of the compensation claims to the members of the class suit. The following are summary points of reports gathered by SELDA:

· Some victims who were told that their names were not on this masterlist were soon told that their names are included in other regions’ masterlist.

· Some victims did not receive notices from the court or from Atty. Swift but when they checked their names in this masterlist, they were able to find their names and receive their claims.

· Some victims received notices from the court and Atty. Swift, but when they checked the so-called masterlist, their names were not included in the said list so they were not able to get their share from the settlement agreement.

SELDA demands justice and calls on Judge Manuel Real to abide by his original 1994 judgement and to accord the compensation due the victims and demands the reinstatement of the 2,013 delisted victims.

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 The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) is an organization of former political prisoners in the Philippines

Marie Hilao Enriquez

Chairperson

SELDA