PRESS STATEMENT
July 24, 2003

SELDA ON GMA'S FALSE SENSE OF CHARITY AND ETTA'S LEGAL SOPHISTRY
By DANILO P. VIZMANOS.
Chairperson, SELDA
Tel. No. 8951865

The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA) hails the historic decision of the Supreme Court on the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses as a monumental act of justice to all those who suffered during the long dark night of martial rule.

Controversies arising out of the high court's decision compel SELDA to state its position on three relevant matters.

First, on the arbitrary offer of President Arroyo of P8 billion for the victims. For her information, the historic verdict of the US Federal District Court of Hawaii in 1994 awarded exemplary and compensatory damages of $1.9 billion to 9,539 martial law victims. SELDA as the organization that initiated the class action suit tempered the claims of victims to only one-third of whatever ill-gotten wealth may be discovered. Limited though the amount may be, SELDA regards such compensation as an act of justice rather than charity. This has been our position over a period of ten years of continuing court litigations and negotiations.

Based on the total escrow account of $682 million, one-third would amount to $227 million or P12 billion.

The second point is the so-called "generic" nature of victims of human rights violations (HRV). This is mentioned in proposed amendments to HB 4535 being pushed by Chairperson Etta Rosales of House Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights. In a nutshell, these amendments seek the application of HB 4535 not only to martial law victims but also to other HRV victims under succeeding administrations of Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo.

We in SELDA would like to stress that we have always advocated justice and compensation for all HRV victims regardless of whichever administration is liable. This is why we fully support HB 2192 sponsored by Rep. Oscar Rodriguez which entitles compensation to all other HRV victims.

However, one must consider the validity and profundity of arguments presented and published in a six-page Bayan Muna position paper dated 2 December 2002 refuting Rep. Rosales' proposed amendments.We have given our full support to Bayan Muna's position paper which focuses on the case of martial law victims, particularly the 9,539 who were included in the final judgment of the US Federal District Court of Hawaii and upheld by the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of the United States. This is the same position taken by Senator Joker Arroyo in his sponsorship of Senate Bill 1877.

Conversely, we consider Rep. Rosales' proposed amendments as an attempt to 1) delay indefinitely and frustrate the compensation of martial law victims, and 2) exonerate the Marcos dictatorship through legal and parliamentary sophistry through wholesale deletion of provisions referring to the martial law regime as if it never happened at all.

Finally, we in SELDA consider compensation as merely one aspect of justice. The more important one is the criminal liability of the Marcoses. This is where we fully endorse and support the position of PCGG Commissioner Ruben Carranza that the Marcos family be held criminally liable for illegal and immoral appropriation and exploitation of the people's money during the conjugal dictatorship and subsequent years. ###