Group to lawmakers: Finish final compensation bill version

MANILA, Philippines - Rights group Selda on Friday urged lawmakers to finish the "conclusive presumption" provision in the final version of the Marcos victims compensation bill on Jan. 23.

Selda chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez said Martial Law victims are calling on both members of the Lower House and Senate to stand by the "conclusive presumption" provision.

"By then, we hope that the bicameral meeting will finish all the work, and ensure that the bill is passed and legitimate victims are recognized as such," Enriquez said.

She said their group who filed and won the historic class suit of Martial Law victims against the Marcoses in 1986 insists that the 9,539 victims should be recognized as legitimate victims under “conclusive presumption,” contrary to the “disputable presumption" pushed by Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello.

"The Hawaii class suit has been recognized as a landmark judgment, but why are Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello and even CHR (Commission on Human Rights) chairperson Etta Rosales the first to cast doubts on the victims? These are essentially one and the same with the argument of the Marcoses, who disputed in Hawaii the legitimacy of the victims of human rights violations," Enriquez said.

She added that the victims took the risks of filing charges against the Marcoses for justice and indemnification, and have gone through the rigorous and painful process of retelling the accounts of their arrest, detention and torture and of their colleagues.

"And now these people want them to prove again, after 40 years, that they are victims? This is not only undermining history, this is a grave insult to them," Enriquez said.  - Dennis Carcamo