Final list of Marcos victims qualified for funds released

A body formed to process compensation claims by victims of human rights abuses during martial law released on Monday the final list of victims qualified to receive funds charged to the P10 billion in stolen wealth recovered from the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) approved 11,103 of at least 75,730 claims filed with the board.

Lina Sarmiento, HRVCB chair, said the amounts of financial compensation ranged from P176,000 to P1.76 million.

Money for the compensation would come from the P10 billion in Swiss bank deposits seized by the government from the Marcoses.

Proportionate to crime

Sarmiento, at a forum at the University of the Philippines Hotel on Saturday, said the board issued Resolution No. 16-2018, which contained the final list of claimants.

Compensation amounts would be proportionate to crimes committed against claimants.

Victims of enforced disappearance and killings get 10 points, torture victims get six to nine points, arbitrary detention victims get three to five points and victims of other rights violations get one to two points.

The board’s last day of operation is on May 11, 2018.

Sarmiento advised all claimants on the final list to open a regular savings account with Land Bank of the Philippines branches that are nearest to them and submit copies of savings transaction information (STI) to the HRVCB by May 9 to ensure full reparation payment.

‘Evidence-based’

Qualified claimants were told to e-mail their STI to [email protected] and call the HRVCB hot lines (02) 373-4847 and 0999-5059737 for details.

Sarmiento said some claimants had falsified documents.

“Our process is evidence-based,” she said.

“We scrutinize their stories,” Sarmiento added. “If they say the claimant was tortured without details, we have to check,” she said.

The board also verified documents presented by claimants, like old newspaper clippings, and used these as reference for other claimants, Sarmiento said.

Claimants who have incomplete documents had been given enough time to submit complete documents, she said.

“While we encounter fake claimants, our priority is to identify the eligible claimants,” Sarmiento said.

The board, she said, may file cases against those who made false claims.

Some martial law victims, who were not seeking compensation, would be recognized and given nonmonetary recognition. These included former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Sarmiento said.