A BILL seeking to continue the processing of claims for recognition and reparation of victims of human rights violations during martial law, along with the reconstitution of the Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) to process their claims, was filed yesterday by the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives.
Some 75,000 individuals filed applications for claims under Republic Act No. 10368 (An Act Providing for Reparation and Recognition of Victims of Human Rights Violations During the Marcos Regime, Documentation of said Violations, Appropriating Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes), but only 11,103 were approved and duly recognized by the HRVCB until the board’s legal mandate as a government agency expired on May 12, 2018. The HRVCB was able to completely resolve 6,737 appeals as of May 6, 2018, the lawmakers said in House Bill No. 3505 filed yesterday.
Under HB 3505 or the “New Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2022,” a P10-billion fund will be used to fund the reparations and finance all claims. The P10 billion will be sourced from ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses that have been remitted and will be remitted by the Presidential Commission on Good Government to the Bureau of Treasury, said the authored by party-list representatives Raoul Manuel (Kabataan), Arlene Brosas (Gabriela) and France Castro (ACT).
The Makabayan bloc said nine years after RA 10368 was passed and 30 years after a landmark decision in Hawaii, “relatives and friends of the human rights violations are still crying out for justice.”
“Most of the victims are now very old and continue to be impoverished. They were certainly overwhelmed by the legal procedures and requirements of the law, as well as the difficulty in the submission of simple affidavits from witnesses and human rights organizations who could confirm their status as detainees or human rights violations victims,” the bill said.
The measure said R.A. No. 10368 “should have considered the state of the victims and the difficulty they will encounter if the law is not liberalized to provide them with the best opportunity to process their claims without compromising the integrity of the process.”
RA No. 10368 which was passed in 2013 says the State recognizes the “heroism and sacrifices of all Filipinos who were victims of summary execution, torture, enforced or involuntary disappearance, and other gross human rights violations committed during the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos covering the period from September 21, 1972 to February 25, 1986.” and restore the victims’ honor and dignity.”
The Makabayan said many of those who were disqualified or denied were disqualified on the basis of technicality such as failure to promptly present evidence or testimony or submit duly notarized affidavits; failure to reply or understand notices, rules and regulations, deadlines of submission; “and other problems encountered by ordinary people not familiar with legal procedures.
“Many of them never had a due process chance to even file an appeal from the decision denying their claim outright,” the bill said. “While no amount of monetary reparation will restore lost lives, properties, broken relations, and dreams of the human rights violations’ victims and their families, the reparation is important for them, as it forms part of the overall recognition of the reality of human rights violations and their immeasurable suffering of the people under the Marcos regime.”
