‘Innocent’ martial law victims should be compensated: Palace

FILE: 1986 rally against the Marcos Dictatorship in which protesters hold up images of Escalante Massacre victims (Photo By Malacanang Palace Presidential Museum and Library, Public Domain)

MANILA — Only the “innocent” martial law victims under the rule of the former Ferdinand Marcos should receive compensation from government, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo acknowledged the human rights violations and abuses committed during the Marcos regime after the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) decided not to pursue the proposed settlement deal for martial law victims.

In a statement, the OSG said it would not pursue the settlement agreement after discovering that the terms were “grossly disadvantageous to the government”.

“I’m sure there must have been victims during critical times. There were certainly abuses committed in whatever regime that the governor or the President would not know about it,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“And just the same, if there are victims of violation of human rights, certainly they should be compensated,” he added.

Panelo, however, said the case would be different if a martial law victim was an “enemy of the state.”

“It would be different kung kalaban ng gobyerno, kung pinapatay mo ang gobyerno, eh natural lalabanan ka ng gobyerno (if you’re enemy of the state, if you’re fighting the government, of course government will fight back),” Panelo said.

“You cannot say na (that) you are a victim. If you want to kill the soldiers of the government and then they retaliate. Pero iyong nasa gitna(But if you’re in the middle), caught in the crossfire, iyon ang magiging biktima mo (they’re the real victims),” he added.

Panelo, meanwhile, refrained from reacting to the OSG statement that the claims of martial law victims remain a “personal liability of the Marcoses.”

“I do not know exactly the grounds for the opposition of this Solicitor General (Jose Calida). I have to know that before I can make a proper intelligent response,” Panelo said.

Earlier, a US court ordered the distribution of USD13.75 million (some PHP715 million) from ill-gotten wealth assets of the Marcoses to thousands of martial law victims.

The OSG, which is trying to block the distribution of the compensation, criticized the deal for giving criminal immunity to Vilma Bautista, an aide of former First Lady Imelda Marcos who seized the paintings that the settlement is sourced from.