Claimants unfazed by PCGG abolition

The proposal to abolish of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is not a matter of concern to martial law rights abuse victims who have won a $2-billion judgment from a US district court against the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Rod Domingo Jr., lead counsel of the 9,539 class-suit claimants, said the victims’ chance of collecting on the 1995 award handed down by US district court of Hawaii Judge Manuel Real ultimately rested with President Aquino.

“The expected demise of the PCGG will not be met with any sorrow by the class of almost 10,000 Filipino human rights victims abused under Ferdinand E. Marcos,” Domingo said in a statement he issued with American co-counsel Robert Swift.

“The PCGG and the Republic itself, not the Marcoses, have been the greatest obstacles to collection of their historic $2 billion against the estate of Ferdinand E. Marcos,” he added.