|
To the editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 2, 1998
Pay victims directly, not through NDF; get NDF out of strange role as kubrador
THIS refers to the letters of two Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya leaders (PDI, 9/27/98) critical of Bob Swift and company (which
includes me). The way to resolve the problem is easy: get the National Democratic Front out of the weird role it has strangely assumed as kubrador. The two
praise Conrad de Quiros, who for balance, could talk with Bobbit Sanchez, on how it is to deal hard-lining ideologues who start believing their own propaganda.
It was an orphan class suit Joe Mari Velez and Swift started in 1986. Only a few from this end (Velez, Rod Domingo and his son Michael, Ruben Fruto, Glenda Mendoza, Jane
Biscocho, Tony Villasor, Selda's Ira Sombillo, and my Senate staff, such as Cyril del Callar, when I was in government), helped Swift and Sherry Broder, Swift's
liaison counsel in Hawaii.
Swift's firm has had to advance all expenses (about a million dollars, give or take). Its fees will be fixed by the court. In the separate Trajano salvaging case involving
Imee Marcos, it was set at about 6% of the sums awarded (although in contingency cases, fees can be much higher). Salimpusa Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. (MABINI) and I will not get any fees. Lawyer Romy Capulong was not even saling cat.
How much is the NDF going to get in managing to prevent direct payment to the claimants? Should anyone question that Capulong got from the Flor Contemplacion family a
"donation" of hundreds of thousands in appreciation of his efforts? We do not.
But, since he was counsel for only three clients in Hawaii, why should he now show interest in collecting for the clients of other lawyers, even asking them to waive their
fees? He offers to waive something he never worked for and deserved. He was offered three times to become class co-counsel. He refused. In 1986, he and the NDF had
the chance to file a class suit. They left it to class-suit specialist Swift. JoeMa sued only for himself.
The NDF is aghast that only $171 million of the $570 million would pass through it. It wants the whole $570 million. MABINI opposes this. Former Sen. Jovito Salonga is
right in saying that not only 10,000 people are entitled to the money but the entire nation.
Swift played a key role in settling recently the claims of the Holocaust victims for $1.25 billion. I have not heard any Jew---who can bargain as hard as anyone---accusing
him of selling out. Did we sell out when we fixed Japan's reparations $800 million? The Japanese-Americans who got interned in World War II got $20,000 each (plus an
apology, which the Marcoses should also issue). The Domingo-Viernes settled with the Marcoses and Dr. Malabed for $3 million, a judgment for about $25 million for
the 1981 salvaging of the duo in Seattle. The victims of Supercop Ping Lacson and Maj. (now congressman) Rudy Aguinaldo in a case now pending in the Court of Appeals
were awarded P350,000 each. In none of these was there a sellout. Let us not get the hopes of the victims too high, but those getting special powers of attorney from
Swift's clients may be doing just that.
It used to be easy to tell a capitalist from a communist when it comes to money. The NDF should be kicked out as kubrador.Hindi po bagay talaga. It never gave
any importance to the class suit until Swift and company won in 1992 when the old SELDA passed into history to be replaced by a new set of leaders who have confused
the situation by insisting that the NDF be the kubrador. It seeks easy-to-forge special powers of attorney from Swift's clients. Nakakapangilabot. I
want direct payment to the claimants. I want no cent to pass through the NDF. If anyone must mediate, why not the Commission on Human Rights?
Swift is not a human right lawyer but he was the tough litigator who thought of the class suit. He cannot immunize the Marcoses from criminal prosecution---the lie that the
NDF is promoting as seen in the letter of Iloilo Selda members who naively think that Swift could immunize the Marcoses (PDI, 9/26/98). He is only concerned with the
class suit. Immunity for the Marcoses is for Filipinos to deal with: MABINI and I oppose it.
The Hawaii class suit was instituted for an amalgam of reasons: to vindicate the victims and collect damages, to expose the violators and deny them safe haven anywhere, to
deter future wrongs, to have a deposition for history, and most of all, to start the final healing that is possible only when a human rights violator is brought to
justice.
The 1992 verdict sends the right signal to all would-be dictators that human fights violations are a crime against humanity and that there is no haven or refuge for them in
the enlightened countries.
To many human rights victims, the struggle against the dictator was its own reward. The judicial affirmation of the validity of their sacrifice, as well as the possibility
of recovering compensation, is a bonus. If 10,000 out of the 70,000 direct victims of martial law want that bonus, let them get paid directly, not through the NDF
and its front organizations. This is the bottom line.
RENE A.V. SAGUISAG
Chair, Movement of Attorneys For Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc.(MABINI)
|
