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Statement of the Cordillera-Afong SELDA
on the recent US court decision on the Marcos loot

The Cordillera Afong – SELDA, the organization of ex-political detainees in the Cordillera region, reaffirms the justness of the struggle of human rights victims during the Marcos dictatorship to indemnification for the sufferings which they and their families were subjected to under the fascist dictatorship.

The class suit which SELDA had earlier filed before the US District Court in Hawaii has a firm moral and even legal basis. The judge here ruled in SELDA’s favor, and stated that the estate of the late dictator was liable for providing indemnification to the human rights victims.

The recent decision of a US appeals that the close to 10,000 plaintiffs cannot benefit from the Marcos ill-gotten assets recovered by the Philippine government from Swiss banks only serves to obfuscate the issue. It is understandable that Imelda Marcos was elated by the decision and that the Marcoses tried to distance themselves from the crimes of the dictatorship which they were also part of.

This development, however, does not detract from the justness of the continuing struggle of SELDA and the human rights victims of the Marcos dictatorship, of which Cordillera Afong is a part.

The arena of struggle of the human rights victims of the Marcos dictatorship for indemnification for the torture, summary executions, disappearances, illegal detention and the like is now with the Philippine government. The Philippine government has already taken hold of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth from the Swiss banks but has been unable to indemnify the human rights victims. Congress is taking forever to pass the enabling law so that part of the funds, which has been solely and shortsightedly earmarked for agrarian reform, can be allocated for the human rights victims.

GMA has announced these past many years that her government will give justice to the human rights victims, but nothing has happened up to the present time. We cannot understand the delay and suspect that the money was used to finance the presidential campaign of GMA. Recent exposés in Congress appear to support this suspicion.

The responsibility to give some degree of justice to the human rights victims of the Marcos dictatorship lies in the hands of the GMA government, and the Philippine Congress. The Marcoses also cannot wash their hands off the crimes of the dictatorship that they were part of. Let us not get distracted by the recent US Court ruling.

The arena of the struggle is in the Philippines. Cordillera Afong – SELDA will persevere in the struggle for justice and indemnification for the victims of martial law, and in the wider struggle for a just and lasting peace.

Joanna K. Cariño
Chairperson
Cordillera Afong – SELDA

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