House OKs bill to extend life of HR claims board

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

THE HOUSE of Representatives approved on Monday night a bill extending by two years the life of the claims board for victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law era.

Voting 127-7, the lower chamber approved the measure on third or final reading extending the life of the Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB), which would otherwise lapse on May 12.

One of the opponents of the bill was the Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, whose activist supporters include many of the victims of martial law abuses.

In explaining his “No” vote, Colmenares said it did not make sense to extend the claims board “because [its members] do not care; they are insensitive to the needs to human rights victims.”

Earlier on Monday, about 20 members of SELDA, or Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto, picketed the House of Representatives to speak out against the bill, saying the extension of HRVCB was something akin to “prolonging the agony” of the victims.

“Extending their term, without any guarantee that they will accomplish their task, is like prolonging our agony,” said the group’s vice chair Bonifacio Ilagan, a torture victim during the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship.

While SELDA recognizes the large number of victims who applied for reparation, the extension merely serves to secure the tenure of the Aquino-appointed officials and eat up the funds allocated for the victims of martial law, he also said.

Asked to explain what the group proposed to do once the deadline for the HRCVB had lapsed, Ilagan said there should be new legislation “taking into consideration all the faults and weaknesses of the original Republic Act 10368,” which created the claims board.

“We would like to ask the Claims Board, what happened to the pending claims?” he said. “If there’s really a need for extension, fine. But there should be guarantees that they are really working for the indemnification of victims.”

There are still over 75,000 claims to be investigated and adjudicated by the board for reparation and recognition. The legitimacy of each claim is deliberated before the victim is awarded compensation money from a P10 billion reparation fund.

Besides reparation, the names of the victims will be enshrined in the Roll of Victims of Human Rights Violations in acknowledgment of their heroism and sacrifices.

But SELDA opposes provisions in the proposed law providing lump sum retirement benefits and a monthly pension to members of the claims board, which shall be deducted from the P10 billion fund.

The group said members of the Claims Board, headed by retired police general Lina Sarmiento, “have benefitted more than enough at the expense of the victims of Martial Law.”

“From the fund for the victims, each member of the board receives a monthly P31,000 salary, excluding allowances and other benefits. This, despite the fact they only processed 11,000 applications in 11 months, between November 2014 to December 2015, or an average of about 800 applications a month,” it said.

Under Republic Act 10368, the HRVCB has until May 12, 2016, to finish validating the applications and awarding financial compensation for legitimate claimants.

The law aims to provide recognition and reparation, both monetary and non-monetary, to all victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law regime.