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Euphoric.
This, in
a word, was how the lawyer of human-rights victims under
the Marcos regime expressed his sentiments after the
Singaporean High Court denied the Philippine
government’s claim to the Marcoses Swiss deposits.
According to Filipino human-rights lawyer Rod Domingo
Jr., the decision sends a chilling message to
Manila, which has laid claim to the remaining $25 million of the
$687 million Marcos Swiss deposits held in escrow since
2004.
In a
56-page decision, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong of the
Singapore Court of Appeals ruled that sovereign immunity
did not apply since the bank account was not in
government possession. As a result, the case will be
brought to trial, allowing the Judiciary to decide on
its merits.
Domingo
said the Philippine government now has the burden to
prove that it is entitled to the money. Otherwise, the
martial-law victims will be awarded the funds in view of
its original jury award of $4.75 billion, including
accrued interest.
The
9,539 Filipino human rights-violations victims are
members of a class-action suit litigated in the
United States
against Marcos for torture, summary execution and
disappearance, which resulted in a 1995 jury award
which, with interest, is now worth $4.75 billion.
Their
judgment was affirmed on appeal.
Lead
counsel Robert Swift said “this is a significant victory
on the way to obtaining a final verdict for the entire
$29 million. Singapore’s highest court upheld
Singapore’s sovereignty to decide ownership to property
located in Singapore.”
“The
tragedy is that the Philippine government opposes every
effort by Filipino human rights-violations victims to
recover on their judgment.
The
Singapore decision is also noteworthy because it found
for the human-rights victims on the same issues which I
argued for the victims in the United States Supreme
Court last week involving $35 million of Marcos assets
found in a Merrill Lynch account. Hopefully, the US
Supreme Court will follow the lead of the Singapore
court,” Swift said.
However,
the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is
not at all bothered by the latest development.
PCGG
Commissioner for Legal Affairs Narciso Nario said the
agency will ask the court to reconsider its decision so
that the government can lay a claim to the Marcos funds.
In a
phone interview, Nario said the Philippine Supreme
Court’s decision declaring the funds to be ill-gotten in
nature should be enough basis to end debate as to who
actually owns the funds.
On July
15, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the $683 million
was ill-gotten and ordered its forfeiture in favor of
the government.
But US
District Judge Manuel Real dismissed the Supreme Court
decision and, in September 2003, ruled against the
transfer of the $683 million to the Philippine
government and threatened to cite for obstruction of
justice anyone who would do so.
In 2006
the Philippine government suffered a setback in its
efforts to recover Marcos-era ill-gotten wealth after
Singapore’s appellate court effectively barred it from
withdrawing the $25 million remainder of the $687
million Swiss deposits.
The
remaining $25 million deposit is being held by the
Singapore branch of WestLB AG of Germany, which decided
in 2003 to withhold the amount in deference to the
decision of Hawaii Judge Manuel Real who ruled that
human-rights victims of the Marcos regime should also
benefit from the recovered funds. |
