|
THE
9,539 Filipino registered victims of martial law, who in
1995 won a $2-billion damage award from an American
court from the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s estate,
criticized the role of the US Solicitor General in
blocking their claim to $35 million of Marcos assets
whose ownership issue is now with the US Supreme Court.
The
American High Court will hear today (Manila time) oral arguments of that part of Marcos assets found in
2000 stashed away in
New York’s
Merrill Lynch brokerage account under the name of
Panamanian firm Arelma Inc.
The
victims’ lawyers—American Robert Swift and Filipino Rod
Domingo Jr.—said the US Supreme Court might not have
agreed to accept the case, but US Solicitor General Paul
Clement through the assistance of the US Embassy in
Manila intervened on behalf of the Philippine government
to convince the US High Court to hear the case.
It will
be the first time the US Supreme Court reviews a case
involving massive human-rights atrocities.
“It is
disappointing that the US Solicitor General, Paul
Clement, and the American Ambassador to the Philippines,
Kristie Kenney, do not understand the significance of
this case to ordinary Filipinos. Filipinos in general
want to see justice done for the victims and have them
compensated. All the American government wants is to
assist a friendly but corrupt regime,” said the victims’
counsel in a statement issued over the weekend.
Domingo
noted the Arroyo administration and that of President
Bush have ignored the United Nations Charter to seek to
compensate victims of human-rights abuses. “In fact,
these governments have been oblivious of the second
requirement of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court that the
victims of martial law must be compensated before the
$681-million Marcos Swiss accounts are released.”
The
review of the case was based on the appeal of the
Presidential Commission on Good Government represented
by American lawyers to review the decisions of the US
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the US Federal Court
of Hawaii that the disputed $35 million belongs to the
victims of martial law.
“Multiple appeals by the Philippine government have
delayed distribution of [the $35 million] to the
Filipino victims for three-and-a-half years. An initial
distribution to each qualified victim of $2,000 awaits a
positive result from the US Supreme Court,” said the
counsels. |
