PCGG won't forgo claim on $68-M Marcos assets

MANILA, Philippines - The government will not forgo its claims on two recovery cases worth $68 million of assets of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos pending in courts in Singapore and New York.

Chairman Andres Bautista of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) told The STAR they are not giving up the government’s claim to lawyer Rod Domingo and his US counterpart Robert Swift and their clients, human rights victims of the martial law regime.

PCGG said the lawyers have already collected a windfall of legal fees from the $10-million compromise settlement from an agreement with the heirs of the late Marcos associate Jose Yao Campos.

“The problem is that too much of the money is going to legal fees and expenses,” Bautista said.

“The commission views its task with urgency, recognizing the long and agonizing journey towards justice that the HRVVs (human rights violations victims) have had to tread.

“However, while there seemed to be common ground in the desire to compensate the HRVVs, there is a disjunct on how much should be paid for legal fees and costs.

“After all, no amount of effort or toil should merit a ‘reward’ bigger than the price that the HRVVs have had to pay.

“In this connection, the Commission has deemed it best to pursue the pending cases in Singapore and New York, with the recoveries to be used to vindicate the rights of the Filipino people - including all the Marcos HRVVs,” the PCGG concluded.

Last Friday, Domingo issued the call in a press conference he and Swift gave to announce the completion of the initial distribution of compensation checks worth P43,200 ($1,000) to 6,500 claimants that was started last Feb. 28.

The distribution of $1,000 is part of the human rights victims’ share of the $10-million compromise settlement with the heirs of Campos in connection with a claim they filed for lands in Texas and Colorado allegedly bought with Marcos money.

Lozano: Bury Marcos  in Ilocos Norte

A Marcos loyalist lawyer proposed yesterday the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos on top of a hill or mountain in his hometown of Batac or any place in Ilocos Norte.

Lawyer Oliver Lozano said he has written Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos to consider a mountain or hilltop tomb for her husband to put an end to the controversy on whether he deserves to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“A mountain tomb or shrine will also feature a chapel where visitors can pray, and a museum which will showcase memorabilia, and the blueprint of the former president to make the Philippines a great nation,” he said.

Lozano, chairman of the Marcos Loyalist Inc. and spokesman of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), said Marcos at this point   does not deserve to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani where a police dog was also buried and stray animals roam freely.

“We cannot allow stray animals trampling the tomb of a former president,” he said.

Lozano said the resolution signed by more than 200 lawmakers at the House of Representatives, the survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) which placed Marcos in the top 10 heroes of the country, and the Armed Forces’ inclusion of Marcos in their heroes’ list are enough to prove that he deserves a hero’s burial.

The House resolution could be replicated in a stone tablet where the names of the lawmakers would be carved as proof that he was declared a hero by no less than the representatives of the people, he added.

The name of Marcos as a hero of World War II and survivor of the Death March was already recorded in the annals of history and enshrined at the Dambana ng Kagitingan on Mount Samat in Bataan, Lozano said.

Loyalists: Forgive and forget

The True Marcos Loyalists Foundation urged yesterday all anti-Marcos, mostly belonging to leftist organizations, to learn to forgive and forget to make the country move forward.

In an interview with The STAR, True Marcos Loyalists founding chair Cherry Cobarrubias said anti-Marcos groups such as the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP) should stop the hate campaign against Marcos.

“Enough of hate and vengeance campaign,” she said. “We should move on as a country and people.”

In a statement, the CEAP said Marcos cannot be given a hero’s burial because his medal of valor was a “hoax.”

“These exaggerated claims about Marcos cannot be farther from the truth,” read the statement.  — With Perseus Echeminada, Jose Rodel Clapano