PRESS STATEMENT

       November 22, 2006

Issued by: Robert Swift and Rod Domingo, Jr.

Re:  Marcos Human Rights Litigation

MERRILL LYNCH VS. ARELMA

 U. S. lead counsel Robert A. Swift of the Marcos human rights litigation is in Manila this week to discuss with his Filipino co-counsel Rod C. Domingo, Jr. plans for the distribution of US$2,000.00 to each of the victims of human rights abuses during the regime of the late Ferdinand Marcos.  The U. S. District Court of Hawaii has authorized the distribution of money as soon as appeals in the Merrill Lynch vs. Arelma case pending before the U. S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shall have been concluded and finally resolved.

 The distribution will be the first in the historic class action human rights case against the former dictator and his estate.

 The class action itself concluded in 1995 with a $2 Billion judgment against the Marcos Estate. The judgment was affirmed on appeal. Various lawsuits have been filed to collect on the judgment. Collection has been hampered by the unwillingness of the Marcos family to disclose the assets of Marcos.

 The U. S. $2,000 to be distributed derives from a securities account at Merrill Lynch in New York. The account was owned by the deceased Marcos but held in the name of Arelma. The Philippine government and the PCGG also claimed the money but had never offered proof the money was stolen or that it was ill-gotten. 

 The U. S. $2,000 payments are just the initial distribution.  The U. S. Court wants each victim to receive the initial tranche of the money before authorizing a second payment. Because a significant percentage of eligible victims live in remote areas where insurgents are active, Swift and Domingo stated that utmost care will be taken to assure that the money is delivered to each victim personally.

In early November, a unanimous U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit handed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Philippine government a stinging defeat in litigation over the hidden Marcos assets.  For the second time, a unanimous 35-member U. S. Court of Appeals crushed the government’s motion for reconsideration, this time calling its arguments “without merit.” At issue is $35 Million of Marcos assets stashed away in a brokerage account at Merrill Lynch in the name of a phony Panamanian corporation. In 2000, attorneys for the victims filed suit against Merrill Lynch and the government joined the lawsuit to foil any recovery for the victims of human rights abuses. Despite its lack of evidence, the PCGG and the government repeatedly sought to prevent a U. S. Court from adjudicating the case, forcing over nine unsuccessful appeals to the Court of Appeals.

The PCGG and the government’s claim that only a Philippine Court could adjudicate title to Marcos assets met with the scorching rebuke that any Philippine court judgment over assets in the United States would be “unenforceable in the United States.”  The Court of Appeals further found that attorneys for the government had improperly quoted an earlier decision of the US Court by failing to quote the operative language.

For more particulars, please get in touch with:

ROD C. DOMINGO, JR.

15/F LPL Center 130 L.P. Leviste Street

Salcedo Village Makati City 1227

Tel. Nos.  (632) 813-3459

               (632) 813-3497

     Cellphone No. (0917) 813-1800

             Fax No. (632) 812-7997

Email addresses: [email protected]

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                                                     [email protected]