Martial Law victims
laud US Court decision vs. Marcoses
By SELDA
October 30, 2012
QUEZON CITY –
“The decision of the US Court of Appeals declaring Imelda Marcos and
her son Bongbong in contempt is another victory for the victims of
martial law.”
The statement was issued
today by Bonifacio Ilagan, Vice-Chairperson of the Samahan ng
Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA).
On October 24, the US Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a contempt judgment on Sen.
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, his mother Imelda and the estate of the
late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos for violating a court order
transferring the assets of the estate.
“The decision is a smack in
the face of the Marcoses who continue to arrogantly hold on to their
ill-gotten wealth and to use it to remain in their lofty positions and
power,” Ilagan stated.
Bongbong sits as a senator,
mother Imelda is currently a congressman and sister Imee is governor
of Ilocos province. Both mother and daughter are running for
re-election in next year’s elections.
The US Court of Appeals has
ordered that martial law victims be awarded US$353.6 million resulting
from the daily fine of $100,000 from February 3, 1995 to February 3,
2005 imposed by the Hawaii Court of First Instance.
Despite this, the victims of
the Marcos dictatorship has yet to be indemnified after winning the
historic Class Action Suit against Marcos in 1992.
“It’s been twenty years
since that historic day, and to date, even after gaining another
victory, no law has been passed by the government to indemnify the
victims,” Ilagan lamented. “This delay has partly been caused by
various settlements that the different administrations have entered
into with the Marcoses since the time of former President Corazon
Aquino.”
SELDA warned the current
Aquino government from entering into any agreement with the Marcoses
that would compromise the martial law victims. It stressed that now is
the time for it to complement the US Court of Appeals decision with
positive action by pushing the Senate to act on the indemnification
bill, as well as hold the Marcoses and their cronies and henchmen
accountable for their crimes against the Filipino people.
“What worth is this victory,
if the Aquino government continues to ignore our demands for justice
and even turns chummy chummy with the Marcoses?” Ilagan queried.
“Whatever we gained through
this latest US Court decision should not end up being ill-gotten once
more.” SELDA concluded.