CHR to document stories of martial law victims

MANILA, Philippines - Stories of survivors and those killed and who had disappeared during martial law will be documented.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) together with the National Historical Commission and National Archives of the Philippines, as well as civil society organizations working in the area of human rights, saw the need to interview the survivors, as well as the families of those who had disappeared.

CHR Martial Law Files project manager Myrna Jimenez said the documentation of names of the victims will help the to-be constituted Claims Board mandated to formulate the Implementing Rules and Regulations to decide on whom to give monetary and non-monetary benefits specified in the Recognition and Reparation of Human Rights Violations Victims under Marcos Regime Act of 2013.

Earlier, the CHR together with representatives of the embassies of Argentina and Switzerland, and Swisspeace spearheaded a workshop to record incidents of human rights abuses during martial law.

Some 30 government officials and CSO members agreed to research and help put up centralized archives in the Philippines.             

Argentina and the Philippines share the same experience of having a dictatorial government from the 1970s to the1980s.

Argentina’s “Memoria Abierta” or “Open Memory” is a multi-awarded human rights and archival organization that helped the families of victims of human rights violations in Argentina find their missing and dead family members to put an end to uncertainty.