Claims board to divide P9.75 billion among Marcos human rights victims

MANILA, Philippines — The Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) is set to wrap up its work within the month by publishing the names of the last batch of claimants and eventually dividing the P9.75 billion among all the human rights victims during the Marcos regime.

HRVCB chair Lina Sarmiento said the board will have to finalize until May 12 all the claims, compensation and reparation of the victims as she called on all the 75,730 claimants to check the board’s Facebook page, contact it through 0999-5059737 or [email protected] to get updates.

“Oppositors can still file their oppositions in 15 days after which the board will discuss the matter,” Sarmiento said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay Forum in Malate, Manila yesterday.

As provided for under Republic Act 10368 or the act providing for reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations, the HRVCB will cease operations on May 12 of this year.

“The law provides that the money (P9.75 billion) will be divided among the victims. It should be zero balance, if there are claimants who will not be able to get their claims, the money will be given back to the national treasury,” Sarmiento explained.
Sarmiento said of the 75,730 claims, the board denied about 10,200 cases for failure to present sufficient evidence to support their claims for compensation, not necessarily because they were fraudulent.   

Sarmiento said part of the law’s objectives is to help the victims heal and move on but if there are those “who believe that the compensation is not enough, they can still file their legal actions.”  

The HRVCB chair said the publication of the names would help the board get feedback from the public as to whether the claimants were indeed among the victims of human rights violations during martial law.

Since the HRVCB started in 2014, Sarmiento said the board assessed 75,730 claims of human rights violations committed from Sept. 21 1972 to Feb. 25, 1986, as provided for under the RA 10368 enacted in July 2012 with a sunset clause or the provision that states the law will cease to be in effect on a specific date.

The board en banc later sought and was eventually granted two years extension through RA 10766 to ensure all claims will be processed. The board was given a budget of P10 billion taken from the Swiss account of the Marcoses.

Of the P10-billion budget, Sarmiento said the P9.75 billion will be divided among the claimants while the board was authorized to get P50 million annual budget for its operations.

Aside from the monetary compensation, Sarmiento said other government agencies like the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Technical Educational Skills Development Authority were tasked to provide non-monetary reparation for the victims.