IT is not widely known, but suspected Marcos crony Jose Campos owns two tracts of land in Texas and Colorado, which include an area in the Forth Worth area said to have oil and gas deposits estimated at $100 million.

Now the registered Marcos dictatorship victims who won a damage award of $2.35 billion in a Honolulu court are interested in the Campos land in their still-vain attempt to collect from the Marcos estate as they contend with the government for the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and his cronies.

Robert Swift, lead American lawyer of the martial-law victims, said the estate of Jose Y. Campos represented by former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza has tried to settle with them last year, but both parties failed to reach an agreement.

“Discussions have broken down, we couldn’t agree [on terms],” said Swift in an interview at the sidelines of his meeting with martial-law claimants on Tuesday at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City.

He is confident the talks will continue because the Campos “family members are businesslike and they would like to have business solutions to this case.” 

But, Swift said, with federal courts in Texas and Colorado close to trying the claim cases over the disputed companies controlled by the Campos and Mariano Tan families, he is inclined to favor going forward with the litigation.

“These lands are in the Forth Worth area and have oil and gas deposits beneath them. They may be worth over $100 million,” said Swift. “Most recently, the Texas judge ordered the disclosure of a significant documentation from the files of former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza.”

He said Marcos’s son and former Ilocos Norte governor Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos has already testified. “I expect that the depositions to be taken in Hong Kong, and Manila, in coming months will establish that the properties were acquired with Marcos money.”

Swift met with the claimants to discuss the progress of the cases in the US and Singapore courts that seek to satisfy the award they won in 1995.

The Marcos assets involved in the pending case is the $35-million deposit of the Panamanian firm Arelma Inc., invested in Meryll Lynch New York. The US Supreme Court is expected to render a decision in 45 days on whether it will uphold earlier rulings of the US Federal Court in Hawaii and the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that awarded the funds in favor of the claimants.

Swift said the US State Department, through the opinion submitted by US Ambassador to Manila Kristie Kenney, has opposed the victims’ claim over the Arelma account in the US Supreme Court.

“The American ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenney, is no friend to the victims. She would rather dole out American rice to the victims than see them obtain justice for torture, summary execution and disappearance in an American court,” said Swift. “America will reap a grim harvest by deserting justice for cronyism.”

Swift urged the Philippine government to appoint a special envoy to negotiate with the martial-law victims on the settlement for the $29-million Marcos deposits in a Singapore branch of German bank West LB.

He said of the three cases involving Marcos assets, “Singapore is right for settlement as there will be more time, effort and money [required for the litigation].”

The Singapore Supreme Court recently rejected the Philippine government’s claim of sovereign immunity. “The Singapore decision is also noteworthy because it found for the human-rights victims on the same issue which was argued in the US Supreme Court.”

Swift also called on President Arroyo to dialogue with the victims and their counsels to settle their disputes over the $35-million Arelma and $29-million Singapore cases of Marcos wealth.

“I’m asking the President to dialogue with us and resolve these claims of Marcos wealth,” said Swift.

He hopes the battle for the victims’ compensation will be realized by the US court.

“This is the first time in 217 years that the US Supreme Court was hearing a human-rights case. I’m pretty sure we’ve the upper hand in this case,” Swift said.

Commenting on the overall litigation to collect on the victims’ now $4.7-billion judgment, Swift said: “The tragedy is that the Philippine government opposes every effort by victims of human-rights abuses to recover on their judgment. Few legal disputes last as long as this one has, especially where the choice between good and evil is so apparent.” (With Z. Solmerin)

Palace: No government takeover of Meralco

Malacañang on Wednesday asserted that it has no plans to takeover the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and that efforts being undertaken by the government involving the public-utility company are geared toward reduced electricity cost in the country.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has issued an executive order urging large companies to provide for the rice supply needs of their employees through rice production and importation.

IT is not widely known, but suspected Marcos crony Jose Campos owns two tracts of land in Texas and Colorado, which include an area in the Forth Worth area said to have oil and gas deposits estimated at $100 million.

THE waste and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition on Wednesday welcomed Environment Secretary Lito Atienza’s order to shut down all open dumps in the country.

A VISITING German actor and who is a star of a popular television series in Germany has expressed dismay at the way women and children in conflict with the law are being treated in the Philippines.

THE government on Wednesday announced that Malaysia remains committed in facilitating the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) despite the withdrawal of 29 of its 41 peacekeepers in Mindanao this weekend.

THE Presidential Antismuggling Group (PASG) seized some P150 million worth of imported meat, fish and various aquatic and agricultural products from China in a raid at a cold-storage facility in Navotas City on Wednesday.