Human rights victims target $10-B Marcos wealth

MANILA, Philippines - After initially receiving $1,000 as compensation, human rights victims are now looking into the full enforcement of the $10-billion compensation award granted by a US District court.

Rod Domingo, a lawyer representing some 7,500 victims of the Marcos regime, said they would focus their attention on the full enforcement of the ruling of US District court Judge Manuel Real.

Domingo said a case was already filed at the Makati Regional Trial court to enforce the US court order and another case was also filed in New York and Singapore where an estimated $65 million suspected Marcos wealth are kept.

“We are targeting all the Marcos wealth here and abroad,” Domingo told the weekly Balitaan sa Rembrandt Hotel yesterday.

Domingo earlier in the day handed a $1,000 check to Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chair Loretta Ann Rosales.

Rosales said that she would use the amount to set up a foundation for human rights victims like her.

“I will use it as a seed money to create a social movement that will push for and uphold human rights, democracy and peace,” she said.

Rosales said she already talked to several claimants who are interested in joining and supporting the endeavor.

“This is part of the healing process for those who became victims of martial law,” she said.

Rosales later became a member of Congress where she represented the Akbayan Citizens Action Party. She actively organized teachers and pushed for better working conditions for them.

The first batch of human rights victims received their compensation last Monday at Club Filipino in San Juan City.

The claimants viewed this development as a symbolic victory in their long battle for justice. – With Rhodina Villanueva