Rights violations victims react to Marcos on apology, ill-gotten wealth

One of the victims of human rights violations said those who suffered under Martial Law preferred justice over an apology.

Former Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, who was detained in 1973, made the statement after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said an apology to victims of rights violations was “personal to the Marcos family.”

“We are not asking for an apology, we are demanding justice and an end to impunity,” said Taguiwalo, convenor of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (Carmma).

She also adverted to what she called “historical distortions” about Martial Law.

Marcos’ father, then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. placed the country under Martial Law in 1972.

At the recent presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Marcos was asked if he would continue to resist apologizing to the rights violations victims.

“I don’t think it’s a duty for a president to be involved. That is a personal matter for the Marcos family,” Marcos said.

While he is a member of the family, the president said his “role as president is more important right now than my role as a member of the Marcos family.”

Based on the records of the Human Rights Victims’ Memorial Commission, over 11,000 suffered under the said administration.

The victims were entitled to compensation from the government under the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, funded by recovered ill-gotten wealth as declared by the Supreme Court in a 2003 decision.

As regards Marcos’ statement on the government’s ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcos family, former Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales said the President may not distance himself from such issues as the Arelma case.

Rosales pointed out that the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the Marcos family’s $41-million bank deposit under the Arelma name was ill-gotten and should be returned to the Philippine government.

“You cannot dissociate yourself now as President of the Republic from your responsibility as an adult member of the Marcos clan who deliberately participated in the deliberations on the Arelma case,”  Rosales said.

GMA News Online has reached out to Malacañang for its answer to Rosales and Taguiwalo’s tirades against President Marcos, but it has yet to respond as of posting time.

Marcos said during the forum that it was improper for him to be involved in the cases.

“The previous cases that were filed post-1986, I have not touched. It would be highly improper for me to involve myself in that. Besides, I don’t have time to do it. So I leave it to the lawyers,” Marcos said.

While some cases against the Marcos family have been upheld, some have been dismissed.

The Supreme Court (SC) in 2023 affirmed the dismissal of the forfeiture case against the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his wife, Imelda, and several others, involving P1.05 billion in alleged ill-gotten wealth.

In a decision promulgated on March 29, the SC First Division denied a petition seeking to reverse the Sandiganbayan’s decision that dismissed the complaint against Marcos, Imelda, Bienvenido Tantoco Jr., Bienvenido Tantoco Sr., Gliceria Tantoco, Maria Lourdes Tantoco-Pineda, and Dominador Santiago, for insufficiency of evidence.

“While it is truly disappointing that nothing has come of this case despite the lapse of 36 years spent in litigation, the Court agrees with the Sandiganbayan that the petitioner’s evidence is insufficient to support the allegations of its expanded complaint by a preponderance of evidence,” the Court said through Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario. —NB, GMA Integrated News