Claimants can still question compensation

The 4,000 martial law victims who will get advance partial compensation will be given ample time to contest the decision of the claims board on their cases, including the amount of initial payments.

The Human Rights Violations Claims Board (HRVCB) will entertain appeals from eligible claimants, as well as opposition to the award, before distributing the compensation “early in the second quarter of the year.”

The HRVCB on Saturday released the names of 4,000 “conclusively presumed claimants” who are largely among the 9,539 victims of summary execution, torture and other rights abuses under the Marcos regime who won a historic $2-billion class suit in a US court in Hawaii in 1995.

“Of the members of the class suit, more than 3,000 filed their claims with us so we just rounded it off to 4,000 claimants eligible for partial compensation,” HRVCB Chair Lina Sarmiento said in an earlier interview.

The list was published on Saturday on the board’s website, www.hrvclaimsboard.gov.ph, and Facebook page and in tabloids Remate and Balita. It will be published again once a week in the next two weeks.

Sarmiento said copies of the board’s resolutions were simultaneously mailed to the claimants or their representatives.

The HRVCB’s resolution reads like a court resolution that enumerates the evidence submitted, summarizes the facts and explains the decision for the points awarded which would be the basis for the amount of compensation.

“It’s not just partial, it’s a cash advance. It’s an estimate of what they would receive as compensation,” Sarmiento said.

Under the law, approved claimants have 10 days from the time they receive the board’s resolution to file an appeal.