Posted at 9:54 a.m., Wednesday, June 28, 2006
U.S. court authorizes $2,000 payments in Marcos case
Associated Press
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued the order Tuesday in Hawai'i, but no immediate payment can be made because the move had been blocked by the Philippine Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is tasked with recovering Marcos' alleged ill-gotten wealth, said Rod Domingo, lawyer for the victims.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month awarded $35 million in a New York brokerage account that once belonged to Marcos.
The Philippine government has claimed the money belonged to its treasury, but the appeals court said it had no legal right to the account, which Marcos opened in 1972 with a $2 million deposit.
The government, however, filed a petition for rehearing and obtained a stay order from the appeals court Friday.
Thousands of Filipino plaintiffs in a class action suit were awarded $2 billion in 1995 after the Hawaii court found Marcos liable for torture, summary executions and disappearance of political opponents during his 20-year rule that ended with a "people power" revolt in 1986.
Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 without admitting any wrongdoing.
The Philippine government has been able to recover $683 million of Marcos' Swiss bank deposits.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has said she will support legislation to set aside a certain amount of the money as compensation for victims of human rights violations under Marcos.
