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Sunday, April 18, 2004
Martial law victims 'hopeless' with Poe, Marcos alliance
By Fred Roxas
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Human rights victims during the late President Ferdinand Marcos dictatorial regime have started to express fear that they might never be compensated following the alliance of opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr. with the family of the late dictator.
Earlier, hopes of several human rights victims at least in Central Luzon brightened after the government panel in the revived peace talks with the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) agreed to open a new account setting aside P8 billion of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth for martial law victims.
Tarlac Gov. Jose Apeng Yap, senior consultant of the government panel in the latest peace talks held early this month in Oslo, Norway, expressed the fear of many human rights victims in the Marcos regime that they may not ever get compensation if Poe won in the elections.
Yap's fear was also voiced by Pampanga Gov. Lito Lapid and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales, president of the Pampanga chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) because of the recent alliance of Poe with the Marcoses.
Local officials and many victims of martial law, including newspapermen, lawyers and other professionals, are apprehensive that if Poe becomes president, they might not benefit from the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos'.
They theorized that the Poe-Marcos family political alliance might change the Arroyo administration's decision, if President Arroyo is defeated, to set aside P8 billion of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth for the human rights victims. They added that the Marcos family might influence Poe from ever implementing the NDP-RP peace talks Custodianship Agreement with regards the escrowed Marcos money.
The agreement in the Oslo peace talks which the Arroyo government has consented was on the NDF proposal to open a new interest-bearing account at the Philippine National Bank (PNB) where the P8 billion will be deposited.
The Arroyo government also has ensured the passage of a bill in Congress that "shall give priority to the successful plaintiffs in the human rights litigations against Marcos who shall be indemnified without further delay and in the most expeditious manner."
In a related development the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), a militant organization has described Poe's political alliance with the Marcoses as "shameless and opportunistic and a slap on the face of thousands of victims or the Marcos regime."
(April 18, 2004 issue)
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