A round lost for human rights victims during Martial Law.
This was how Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales described the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision to grant over $23 million seized from the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to the Philippine National Bank (PNB) amid competing claims made by three other parties, one of them being the 9,539 human rights victims that suffered under the Marcos regime.
Rosales, herself a human rights victim during the Marcos regime, was part of the group of Martial Law victims that filed the class suit laying claim to the Marcos funds held in Swiss banks.
In a text message sent to GMA News Online Saturday, Rosales said: “We have lost this round. We have to study the arguments of the case first.”
Rosales, however, clarified that the CHR was not legally representing the Martial Law human rights victims in the case.
On Friday, the Straits Times reported that the Court of Appeal has ruled in favor of its Supreme Court’s decision to award $23 million in Marcos money to PNB.
The funds, comprised of $16.8 million and GBP4.2 million, form part of Marcos’ illicit fortune stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
The court, in the report, said it affirmed the High Court ruling that the PNB held the legal title to the funds as depositor of the money as well as original account holder with WestLB, the Germany-based bank that held the money.
Aside from the human rights victims, the other parties who lost in the legal battle were the Philippine government and at least five of the foundations owned by Marcos that were set up to keep the money in Swiss banks. — JDS, GMA News
