SELDA scores government on trying to block victims' compensation

Press Release
By SELDA
November 26, 2006

MANILA, Philippines  –  "It is definitely good news for us victims but not yet a reason to celebrate," Ms. Marie Hilao-Enriquez says about the approaching distribution of compensation for Marcos victims. Enriquez is the current Secretary-General of Society of Ex-Detainees for Liberation against Detention and for Amnesty (SELDA), an organization whose members are mostly victims of human rights violations during Martial Law and plaintiffs to the class suit filed against the dictator Marcos.

Enriquez adds that while the US Appellate Court is ready to distribute $2000 to each victim of Martial Law, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is still on its feet to pursue the appeal to the US Supreme Court to not give the $35M worth of the Arelma account which is Marcos' dummy account to the victims but instead to the Philippine Government. "If this will happen, it means several months more of waiting."

"Until we have in our own hands the compensation we have long waited for, our battle has not ended," Marie Hilao-Enriquez said. "Ms. Gloria Arroyo should order the PCGG to stop on trying to take away what we have long deserved," Enriquez called out.

In addition, Enriquez questions the number of claimants. "But how come there are only 7,500 victims eligible for compensation? All of us victims should be indemnified," Enriquez states. Originally, there are 9,539 victims of human rights violations who filed and won in a class suit against the late President Ferdinand Marcos in the US Federal Court of Hawaii. Enriquez explains that all the 9,539 victims underwent the arduous process of proving themselves to be legitimate victims of the Martial Law. She said they all went through examinations that brought them back to their gross experiences on violations of their human rights.