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Marcos victims can
pursue $2 billion judgment

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By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Saying he "cannot any longer trust the Philippine government," visiting U.S. District Judge Manuel Real vacated a $150 million settlement between the estate of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and nearly 10,000 Filipino human rights victims.

The victims, who sued Marcos' estate in U.S. District Court here in 1986 because he was living here at the time, are now free to pursue the original $2 billion judgment awarded by a Hawaii jury following a trial here in 1994.

The ruling yesterday came nearly 1 1/2 years after Real had approved the $150 million settlement because the estate had failed to turn over the money despite numerous collection efforts.

"We have had enough duplicity and lies of the Marcos family," said Robert Swift, lead attorney for the plaintiffs and as many as 9,500 victims of torture, execution and illegal detention.

"We intend to forcefully and aggressively pursue the assets of the late dictator."

Especially galling, Swift said, was that the Marcoses never paid a peso toward the settlement, yet they lived in luxury, hiding the late dictator's assets and denying he was the murderer the jury convicted him of being.

James Linn, attorney for Imelda Marcos, who argued against termination of the settlement, said the court's ruling makes it even more impossible for the Marcos family to pay.

The Marcoses have been unable to raise the $150 million, and they are in no better position now to pay $2 billion, he said.

Marcos has been living on money given to her by relatives and friends, Linn said. And while her lifestyle has not been that of a poor person, she has not been living in the glory that the plaintiffs claim, he said.

"They're not living on money taken from this judgment," he said.

It had taken years to reach the settlement, and there may still be a chance $150 million can be found, Linn said. "Why start all over again?"

Marcos and her children were committed to paying the $150 million and would have paid had not the Philippine court put a stop to the transfer of funds, Linn said. "They still want to pay this. They want to get it out of the way very, very much."

Philippine President Joseph Estrada had approved of the $150 million settlement, to be paid from Swiss Bank accounts, but a Philippine court blocked transfer of the funds. The Sandiganbayan court in July 1999 ruled that the agreement would free the Marcos estate from further responsibility for human rights abuses.

The court has also taken the position that the money was stolen from the country and should be used for the benefit of all the people, not just the human rights victims.

Estrada subsequently decided against appealing the Philippine court's ruling.