Martial law human rights victims should be compensated — Palace

Groups demanding compensation for martial law victims, like these activists memorialized at Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City in this 2016 file photo, have suffered another legal setback.

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday said human rights victims during the martial law “should be compensated despite the opposition of Solicitor General Jose Calida even after a United States court ruling.

A US court has ordered the Office of the Solicitor General the distribution of $13.75 million to thousands of human rights victims who won a human rights settlement in Hawaii against the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Calida said the terms of the settlement deal were “grossly disadvantageous” to the government.

“I’m sure there must have been victims during critical times. There will certainly abuses committed in whatever regime that the governor or the President would not know about it. And just the same, if there are victims of violation of human rights, certainly they should be compensated,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
“Whatever compensation that is commensurate to their suffering,” he added.

Panelo, who is also the chief legal counsel of President Rodrigo Duterte, said those who were “enemies” of the government couldn’t be considered as human right victims.

“It would be different kung kalaban ng gobyerno, kung pinapatay mo ang ang gobyerno, eh natural lalabanan ka ng gobyerno. You cannot say na you are a victim,” he said.

“If you want to kill the soldiers of the government and then they retaliate. Pero iyong nasa gitna, caught in the crossfire, iyon ang magiging biktima mo,” he added./ac