Press Release
December 12, 2007

PIMENTEL ASKS WHETHER FUNDS FOR COMPENSATION HUMAN RIGHTS VICTIMS ARE STILL INTACT

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today challenged Malacañang to clarify, once and for all, whether the P10 billion earmarked for the compensation of victims of human rights violations during the martial law regime is still intact.

Pimentel raised this question after the long-overdue Human Rights Compensation Bill was excluded among the list of priority measures that the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) chaired by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has recommended for approval by Congress before it adjourns for the Christmas break.

He said the exclusion of the compensation bill from the priority list is outrageous and inexcusable because it has been certified by the President as an urgent measure during the 13th Congress.

"It simply means that the money intended for the compensation of victims of martial law is gone. And the administration cannot explain how, why and where the money went," Pimentel said.

"The money, I suggest, was misspent for political purposes. That's why the administration is hard put to explain why it cannot have the compensation bill approved by the House even as the Senate has already approved it twice."

Pimentel reminded Mrs. Arroyo of her public pronouncement that P10 billion of the Marcos bank deposits recovered from Swiss banks in 2003 (amounting to $680 million or P38 billion at that time) would be set aside to indemnify about 10,000 victims of martial law atrocities.

Banking on the President's pronouncement, the Senate last month approved on third and final reading the Human Rights Compensation Bill.

"We have already passed the bill, but the House of Representatives has not yet done so. The problem is where is the money?" said Pimentel, principal author of the bill.

He also expressed chagrin that the LEDAC during its meeting in Malacañang Tuesday left out the compensation bill from the priority list without any explanation at all.

Pimentel said the government could not renege on its commitment to compensate the human rights claimants without being censured by the international community for such an irresponsible and heartless act.

In fact, he said the Arroyo administration has already been rebuked by the United Nations for not complying with the order of the Honolulu district court to pay the victims of human rights abuses during the Marcos dictatorial regime. This was contained in the final report of UN special rapporteur on human rights, Dr. Philip Alston, who came to the country last year to investigate extra-judicial killings of leftist activists.

Pimentel said it would be illegal for anyone to touch the P10 billion compensation fund and divert it for other purposes. The amount is supposedly deposited in a separate trust account of the Bureau of Treasury in a government bank on behalf of the intended beneficiaries.

Under the bill, victims of martial law atrocities can file their indemnity claims with the Human Rights Victims Compensation Board. The bill directs the Commission on Human Rights and the Presidential Commission on Good Government to implement this legislation.

Noting that the Human Rights Compensation Bill has been pending with Congress since 2004, Pimentel said any further delay in the bill's approval would be detrimental to the claimants since many of them are already in the twilight of their years.

In fact, he said a good number of the claimants have already died while others are afflicted with ailments.

"With the approval of the Human Rights Compensation Act, we hope this will ease the sufferings they have undergone during these parlous days," Pimentel said.

"The bill acknowledges that the compensation of victims of human rights violations is an obligation of the State. After all, it is the State that guarantees the civil and political rights of its citizens."

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