Marcos Estate Loses Huge Suit
Victims of Philippine ruler to share $1.2 billion
By Stephen Schwartz
Chronicle Staff Writer
A federal jury in Honolulu yesterday ordered the estate of the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to pay $1.2 billion in damages to thousands of people said to have suffered under his rule.
The award was made in an unprecedented class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 10,000 victims alleged to have been subjected to summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrest and disappearances from 1972 until the overthrow of Marcos in 1985.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, San Francisco lawyer Randall Scarlett, said yesterday, "The verdict lets all dictators in the world know that the United States will not be a safe haven for them when they are deposed from their own countries."
The same 10-member jury found Marcos's estate liable in September 1992 for the human rights abuses, but the award phase of the trial was delayed by lengthy legal wrangling.
Jurors reconvened Tuesday afternoon and took only five hours of deliberations to come up with a decision on so-called exemplary damages. The total award could go even higher when the jury is called back in coming weeks to decide on compensatory damages.
Scarlett said that the individuals claiming restitution against the former Marcos regime represent a wide sector of Philippine society, including "business people, educators and members of the establishment who fell afoul of Marcos."
He said the litigants expect to collect the damages, although there may be significant difficulties because of banking secrecy laws in such foreign countries as Switzerland, where Marcos assets remain deposited.
Philippine authorities have spent years trying to track down up to $10 billion Marcos is accused of looting from the national treasury, but have had little success.
During the two-week trial In 1992, the plaintiffs' legal team presented evidence that under Marcos' rule, more than 7,000 people were tortured, 2,500 were executed and another 750 were still listed as "missing." Dissidents gave wrenching testimony about beatings, torture and rape.
William Johnson, an attorney for Marcos' estate, acknowledged yesterday that some abuses occurred under martial law but maintained that Marcos could not be blamed for the actions of military officials under him.
"The estate of Ferdinand Marcos abhors torture and some of the things that happened to these people," he said.
Chronicle wire services contributed to this report.
