Trial date set for lawsuit
over late dictator’s assets
Thousands of Filipinos who successfully sued the estate of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos will have their day in court as they attempt to recover the now-$3.1 billion judgment awarded to them eight years ago.
Yesterday, a federal judge in Honolulu set a January trial date for attorneys trying to have $40 million in Marcos assets released to begin paying the verdict.
"We're ready to go to trial," said plaintiffs' attorney Sherry Broder.
The $40 million being sought by Honolulu attorneys is among assets that they argue were obtained illegally by the Marcos regime and stashed in various accounts around the world.
The assets originally were held by a Panamanian corporation, but have since been transferred to an escrow account because of competing claims of ownership by the Marcos estate, the Philippine government and the human rights victims.
They are separate from some $683 million in frozen Swiss assets that the Philippine Supreme Court awarded to the Philippine government in July. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has said some of those funds also will go to the human rights abuse victims.
A class of 9,539 Filipinos sued the Marcos estate in 1986, the year he was deposed and fled to Hawaii. He died in exile in 1989.
In 1995, a Honolulu jury awarded plaintiffs $2 billion after finding Marcos responsible for summary executions, disappearances and torture. The judgment, stalled in court, has grown to about $3.1 billion with interest.
To date, none of the plaintiffs has received any money.
Attorneys were in court yesterday arguing several motions related to evidence and statements to be admitted at trial.
Robert Swift, another plaintiffs attorney, said the trial could be wrapped up within a day because there aren't likely to be any witnesses, only submission of depositions and other documentary evidence.
"We have all the evidence," Broder said. "We have the paper trails showing that the money was deposited by Marcos following a regular pattern."
The pattern includes moving and hiding money between the Philippines, Switzerland and the Caribbean, she said.
Attorneys for Arelma Inc. of Panama, and the Philippine National Bank, which also had claimed ownership of the funds, said they also were prepared to go to trial.
"We're ready to argue this case on merit if it ever goes to trial," said Jay Ziegler, an attorney representing Arelma.
Ziegler renewed his objections to proceeding with the case based on his belief that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct when it issued a stay last year that halted proceedings. In issuing a stay, the San Francisco-based appeals court said it wanted to examine what was being done within the Philippine judicial system to redress human rights abuse victims.
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real lifted the stay in June, saying he wanted to get the case moving. However, he acknowledged that he would welcome an appeal so that the 9th Circuit, "can help me in terms of what should be done."
Ziegler said he remained hopeful that Real's order would be reversed.
Real scheduled the trial for Jan. 12, 2004, noting that the date could be pushed back depending on what the 9th Circuit rules regarding his order lifting the stay.
