AKBAYAN’S ROSALES
‘Arroyo spending millions to block award to rights victims’
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:33:00 03/14/2008
Filed Under: Human Rights, Government, Protest
MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has allegedly spent about P150 million on American law firms to block the awarding of $35 million to victims of human rights violations under the Marcos dictatorship, a party list group claimed on Friday.
Akbayan chair emeritus Loretta Ann Rosales said her group estimates the Arroyo government has spent about $3 million or P150 million to pay the law firms Mayer Brown and Platt, and Heller Ehrman, to “obstruct the awarding of $35 million in the Arelma case.”
The Arelma case involves deposits made by the late Ferdinand Marcos in an account with Merrill Lynch, which is now estimated to have grown to $35 million, or $40 million with interest.
And despite a US court decision to award the money to the human rights abuse victims, Rosales claimed Arroyo has “gone out of her way” to block this compensation.
“Instead of rejoicing and supporting the $35-million compensation for 7,500 victims whose human rights were brutally violated under martial rule, Gloria [Arroyo] prefers to grab this money for herself and her decrepit regime,” Rosales said.
“To be able to do this, she has gone out of her way to pay American lawyers an estimated $3.5 million and has used public funds for the PCGG [Presidential Commission on Good Government] and the Solicitor General to fight the martial law victims all the way to the Supreme Court,” she said.
In July 2004, a Hawaiian district court ruled in favor of the victims, a decision unanimously affirmed by the US Court of Appeals in 2006.
“The martial law victims have so far won while the Arroyo regime has lost in the US courts, but up to now the victims have not been compensated,” Rosales said.
Aside from this, Rosales said Arroyo also recently hired a Washington lobbyist in the law firm Covington and Burling for half a million dollars annually to, among others, lobby against the compensation.
The Akbayan head also questioned the reported trip of PCGG head Camilo Sabio supposedly to attend Monday’s oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in Washington DC.
Because of this, Rosales said the claimants have requested Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros to file a resolution in the House of Representatives to look into the PCGG’s expenditures, including the alleged fees for the American lawyers.
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