U.S. judge throws out Marcos lawsuit

HONOLULU (AP) – A federal judge said he will throw out a $150 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by victims of human rights abuses under former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos unless the late dictator’s estate comes up with the money plus interest within four months.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real’s decision Tuesday came at the request of plaintiffs, who complained the Philippine government has blocked the possibility of transferring the money from Marcos’ frozen Swiss bank accounts to pay their claims.

Dismissal of the settlement will restore a $1.9 billion judgment awarded by a federal jury in Hawaii in 1995 against the Marcos estate. Including interest, that award now stands at $2.9 billion, attorneys for the human rights victims said.

Real faulted embattled Philippine President Joseph Estrada in part for the settlement’s apparent collapse.

“Estrada said he would settle this case two years ago and had failed to fulfill his commitment,” the judge said. “I cannot any longer trust the Philippine government.”

Marcos was president from 1966 until a popular revolt ousted him in February 1986. He and his family were driven into exile in Hawaii.

Marcos and his wife, Imelda, are alleged to have amassed billions of dollars during his 20 years in power.

The class-action lawsuit by 9,539 Filipinos against the Marcos estate was filed in 1986, three years before he died.

In 1995, a Honolulu jury found Marcos responsible for summary executions, disappearances and torture. The judgment was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1996, but the plaintiffs had trouble collecting money in foreign accounts with contested ownership.

Under the settlement approved by Real last year, the $150 million was to be taken from $570 million of Marcos’ frozen Swiss bank deposits held in an escrow account in a Philippine bank.

But the payoff has been tied up in Philippine courts and Estrada is now fighting impeachment charges over allegations he received millions of dollars in payoffs from illegal gambling and kickbacks from tobacco taxes.

“Our clients in the Philippines are very certain that they want the settlement terminated,” said Robert Swift, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “It was a settlement predicated upon the immediate payment of money.”

James Linn, an attorney for the former Philippine first lady, said there was a chance the estate could come up with the $150 million settlement plus $12 million in interest.

“Mrs. Marcos and her family are trying. They want the thing settled,” Linn said.