PRESS STATEMENT                                                                                     REFERENCE: Marie Hilao-Enriquez
15 February 2004                                                                                                                    Secretary General

SELDA winning small battles towards achieving justice and indemnification

SELDA, the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya called today the recent agreement between the panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratice Front of the Philippines on the indemnification of 10,000 victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime a welcome development for them and the Filipino people.

"Despite the failure of the Senate to pass House Bill 1877 into law, after we raised objections as to how it was rewritten, we find this, another of our small victories along the long and tortuous road towards achieving justice and indemnification," a vindicated Marie Hilao- Enriquez, Secretary General of SELDA said.

It being a part of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), the GRP agreed to set aside some P8 Billion "plus interest and earnings from the USD684 million forfeited Marcos ill-gotten wealth…" Likewise, the said amount shall be retained in an escrow account with the Philippine National Bank solely for the purpose of indemnifying victims of human rights violations during martial
law and giving priority to the successful plaintiffs in the Human Rights Litigation against
Marcos who shall be indemnified immediately.

"We agree to such arrangement to ensure that the money is safely kept and not mishandled for any anomalous use." Enriquez said. "We remind all concerned that as we have done so in the past and with this development we will remain vigilant until the day each victim of human rights violations during martial law is compensated and that justice be served."

SELDA has been at the forefront of the fight for the victims of human rights violations during martial law from the day they filed and won the class suit up to the drafting of the original HB 4535 and has lobbied for its enactment into law.

"The war has not yet been won, but with victories over small battles such as this, we will never let up even as we remain cautiously optimistic," she concluded.#