MANILA, Philippines—Human rights victims of the regime of Ferdinand Marcos expressed confidence on Wednesday they would win a US Supreme Court review on a dispute with the Philippine government over who owns money allegedly stolen by the late dictator.

The court is set to hear oral arguments on Monday on claims by the Philippine government and human rights victims to $35 million in Marcos assets.

The government asked the justices to take the case after two US courts awarded the funds to nearly 10,000 victims of Marcos’ 20-year rule.

The lawsuit stems from an account set up with a $2 million deposit by Marcos in 1972 at a brokerage in New York. Merrill Lynch went to court in 2000 to determine the money’s owner.

The Philippine government asserted sovereign immunity and said the case could not proceed in US courts.

Not a cent of $2-B judgment

The 9,539 people claiming grave human rights abuses, obtained a $2-billion judgment against the Marcos estate in a US court in 1995 but have yet to receive money because of multiple appeals filed by the Philippine government.

“We are confident in the strength of our arguments,” Robert Swift, lead lawyer for the human rights victims, said in a statement. “Just as we prevailed in the two lower courts, we hope to prevail here.”

Swift said it was disappointing the US government intervened through the Office of the US Solicitor General to have the case reviewed.

“All the American government wants is to assist a friendly but corrupt regime,” Swift said, adding it has failed to understand the significance of the case to ordinary Filipinos who want to see justice done for the victims.

Marcos and his family have been accused of stealing between $5 billion and $10 billion from the country’s coffers.

A People Power revolt ousted Marcos in February 1986, forcing him and his family to flee to Hawaii, where he died in exile in 1989.

Rod Domingo Jr., the human rights victims’ Filipino lawyer, said the government “spends limitless funds of the people to defeat their claims” for money “that could have been spent feeding the poor of this nation.”

Domingo said the funds being disputed were part of the “Arelma account” of a Panamanian dummy company.

The amount being claimed by the human rights victims in the case amounted to $35 million which, including interest, would now be worth close to $40 million, the lawyer said.

The money is no longer being contested by the Marcos family, but is being fought over by the human rights victims and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which represents the Philippine government.

“The PCGG wants the funds forfeited in favor of the government,” Domingo said.

By his estimate, the case has been under litigation for three and a half years already, but Domingo said he was confident of victory once the US Supreme Court tackles the issue.

“We have won at the lower levels already, including the equivalents of our regional trial court and the Court of Appeals,” Domingo said.

He noted that the Philippine government did not even bother to present its evidence when the case was being heard by the appellate court. Reports from Associated Press and Daxim Lucas