Ten Years After, compensation for Marcos victims still in limbo

Ang panukalang bill nga na "Murang Gamot para sa mamamayan," bagamat malapit ng pumasa sa Kongreso, pinaglaruan, kinatay at pinalabnaw, yung Compensation Bill para sa mga biktima ng Human Rights pa kaya! Huwag na tayong umasa pa sa Malakanyang at ruling party (Lakas at Kampi) sa Kamara, wala nga sa listahan ng sampung (10) "priority Bill" ng Malakanyang ang Compensation bill. Sa mga 2010 presidentiables; Senator Mar Roxas, Manny Villar, Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda at VP Noli de Castro na lang ang pag-asa ng mga claimants, sino sa kanila ang tutugon? (Larawan sa itaas: http://www.blogger.com/www.manilatimes.net/.../images/mainphoto.jpgimages/mainphoto.jpg)

Ang alam ko, marami sa mga claimants, kundi man uugud-ugud na, may malubhang karandaman, patuloy na namumulubi sa kahirapan o patay na. Nakakapanglupaypay.

Ngayon dapat patunayan ni Sen Joker Arroyo (malapit kay Ate Glo't Malakanyang) na siya'y kapanalig ng mga biktima ng kalupitan nuong kadiliman ng diktadurang Marcos. Ang isang tanong, nasaan na ang pera, kulang-kulang na ba, may natitira pa ba o nagamit na ba sa PAMUMUDMUD, nawaldas na ba noong nakaraang May midterm election?

Kung sakaling nakulimbat na ang pera o nagkaroon na ng cashunduan ang pamilyang Marcos at Malakanyang, LAGOT si Ate Glo kay Sen Joker Arroyo, lagot din si Secretary Margarito Teves ng Department of Finance, mga galamay ni Ate Glo sa Kongreso at ang gatasang baka ng Malakanyang, ang Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
Mabuhay ka Etta, sana dumami pa ang mga katulad mo, ang lahi mo!

-Doy Cinco / IPD
December 18, 2007

by AKBAYAN Party
2007-12-18
AKBAYAN Party expressed disappointment today over the failure of the Philippine Congress to fulfill the ultimate condition of the Swiss High Court for the release of the compensation fund for Marcos victims, as human rights activists marked the 10th year of the release of Marcos money deposited in Swiss accounts to Philippine authorities.
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"The Swiss Federal Supreme Court transferred the Marcos assets on December 10, 1997 to an escrow account. There were two conditions for this transfer: that money be proven to be ill-gotten through due process and that a part of the money must be shared with the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime," AKBAYAN Chair Emeritus Etta Rosales clarified. "The first condition was already met when the Philippine Supreme Court ruled on July 15, 2003 that the US$560 million plus is ill-gotten."

"The second requirement, however, is still unfulfilled due to the failure of Congress to enact the human rights compensation bill," Rosales lamented.

Rosales, a torture victim during the Marcos dictatorship, said that the Philippines is obliged to pass the bill. "As a state party to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture, the Philippines is under obligation to provide adequate remedy for the compensation of victims of torture and other human rights violations," Rosales added.

She urged Congress to stop dragging its feet and to expedite the enactment of the human rights compensation bill. "The Marcos victims have waited long enough. While other mechanisms have already recognized their right to get just compensation from the Marcoses through the ill-gotten wealth, the Philippine Congress has been dragging its feet for years," Rosales said.

AKBAYAN in particular expressed concern that a scenario similar to what happened during the previous Congress would be repeated. "The Senate has already approved on 2nd reading its version of the Marcos compensation bill, but House of Representatives still has to approve the bill at the committee level. During the 13th Congress, it was the House of Representatives that effectively killed the bill. We don't want the same thing to happen again," Rosales said.

Monday, 10 December 2007
http://www.akbayan.org/