Marcos victims file appeal before Singapore High Court

MANILA, Philippines - At least 10,000 Filipino victims of human rights violations during the regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos have filed an appeal before the Singapore High Court in connection with its recent decision awarding the $28-million Arelma deposits to the Philippine National Bank (PNB).         

Lawyer Rod Domingo, the Filipino counterpart of US lawyer Robert Swift representing the victims, described the court ruling issued last month as a “legal setback, and not a defeat.”

“The real fight has just begun. We intend to fight, as we will, and win,” Rodrigo said.

“We hope that Singapore’s highest court will correct this injustice. The trial court should not have applied the law of Switzerland (in this case),” said Swift.

Domingo said the Philippine government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), and several of the Marcoses foundations have filed an appeal before the Singapore court.

The money had been transferred to Singapore in 1998 by Swiss authorities and placed in an account with PNB as the custodian.

The Singapore court had ruled that PNB was entitled to the Marcos funds. It dismissed the claim of the Marcos foundations that they should have contested the forfeiture case in the Philippines.

Swift noted that the Singapore ruling might affect the outcome of the litigation of the case in the United States where human rights victims are seeking to recover $42 million of Marcos funds in Merrill Lynch in New York City.