About 331 Martial Law human rights victims and their families from Negros Occidental filed claims applications for shares of the Marcos wealth before the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board at the Bacolod City Government Center yesterday.

The HRVCB is facilitating the nationwide distribution of the P10-billion compensation for victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law of former President Ferdinand Marcos that lasted from Sept. 21, 1972 to Feb. 25, 1986.

Among the claimants yesterday were Fr. Brian Gore, one of the Negros Nine, some incumbent government officials, and victims of the Escalante and Inayawan, Cauayan, massacres.

Gore said many people have come to complain about the abuses they had suffered and this will make the public aware about what had happened in the past. It will also serve as a warning to present and future governments that they will be held accountable for the acts committed by their administration.

He lamented that he did not hear any government official apologize for what happened during the Martial Law. So how can we secure accountability for the future when the perpetrators were not even prosecuted or even held to account?” He asked.

Gore said the money is a minor thing. But for many of these people, it is too little, too late, because many of their relatives are already dead, their livelihoods have been destroyed, and many of them have spread all over the Philippines and it is now very hard to find them.

“What I am really worried about is that by the November 10 deadline, many will not have had the opportunity to make a claim because we do not know where they are, and I do not think the committee has done enough publicizing to inform them,” he said.

Gore said they are asking the people to come forward. They also need the cooperation of all government agencies.

Luzviminda Paglinawan, 49, of Sagay, recalled the ordeal she went through during the Escalante massacre in 1985 when they held a rally to appeal for increase is salaries and to bring down the prices of basic commodities. But instead, they were given tear gas, bullets and firemen to hose them down and she sustained a gunshot wound on her leg.

She said she was only 19 when she suffered from harassment under the Marcos regime being a member of the National Federation of Sugar Workers.

Escalante Councilor Eddie Villalon said the rally held in Escalante preparation for the anniversary of Martial Law started peacefully and they did not anticipate that it will end up the way it did, after Bayan chairman Rolando Ponseca, who is now board Member of the First District, was arrested.

Villalon said they are demanding justice as victims of the Escalante massacre and are glad that the HRVCB has arrived in Bacolod to process their claims.

HRVCB chairman Lina Sarmiento reiterated that the claims forms and the processing are free. They welcome everyone as long as they are legitimate victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law.

The HRVCB was created by RA 10368 to recognize and/or provide reparations to the victims of gross human rights violations committed during the Marcos regime.

Sarmiento said Bacolod is the eighth area visited by their caravan and they hope to return again to help process the claims application of human rights victims.

She admitted that they have limitations since they have a few personnel and the fund support is small, but this will not hinder them from helping the rights victims. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines and League of Municipalities of the Philippines and other organizations have also promised to help them in the processing the claims.

Sarmiento said the deadline for filing claims applications is on November 10, after which they will no longer accept applications and will concentrate on adjudication.

Councilor Archie Baribar said his office facilitated the 2-day HRVCB caravan in Bacolod. He also appealed to people who are taking advantage of the applicants not to “compound their misery” since the forms are free.

The HRVCB will continue to accept claims applications at the Bacolod Government Center today.

Baribar, also a human rights victim, recalled that he was also illegally detained for two months in 1977.

Sammy Montoyo said that as a former president of the Student Supreme Council of West Negros College and a member of Kabataan Makabayan, he was also detained for two months during the Martial Law in 1972. Also detained with him were columnist Edgar Cadagat, Nilo Frias, among others.*CGS

back to top