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Only 8,000 out of the estimated 20,000 human rights victims during Martial Law in the Philippines have been able to submit formal claims for reparations to the Human Rights Victims Claims Board.
There are only seven weeks left before the deadline for the filing reparations claims and these days the claims boards offices nationwide are swamped with applications and jam-packed with claimants.
At the Pagadian field office, as many as 3,000 applicants came and a stampede nearly ensued.
Marcos assets worth some P10 billion were recovered by the government and it is this fund that will be divided among the Martial Law victims for their reparations payments.
Selda, a human rights advocacy group, said their fear is that the Martial Law victims will endure yet another form of abuse and suffering as they go through the claims process.
The board admits it does not have enough manpower to attend to all the claimants and process all the documents and other requirements needed to make a valid claim.
Aside from valid identification cards, birth certificate and a sworn statement, the claims process requires applicants to submit any or a combination of the following documents as proof: death certificate; warrant of arrest, medical or legal records; detention papers and other evidence of the abuse they endured.
Rolando Lagazon of the Claims Board said the process is meticulous because it requires the agency to come up with a historic roster of the names of all the human rights victims during Martial Law.
Selda said the process must not be so strict that it inflicts yet more suffering upon the Martial Law victims, but Lagazon said they do not want any fictitious names or people with fictitious claims to subvert the claims vetting process set forth in Republic Act 10368, the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013
Other government agencies, like the Department of Foreign Affairs, have stepped forward to help the claimants, but at the end of the day the process requires each claimant to bring their documents and fall in line at the claims office nearest to or most convenient for them to go to.
There are only seven weeks left before the deadline for the filing reparations claims and these days the claims boards offices nationwide are swamped with applications and jam-packed with claimants.
At the Pagadian field office, as many as 3,000 applicants came and a stampede nearly ensued.
Marcos assets worth some P10 billion were recovered by the government and it is this fund that will be divided among the Martial Law victims for their reparations payments.
Selda, a human rights advocacy group, said their fear is that the Martial Law victims will endure yet another form of abuse and suffering as they go through the claims process.
The board admits it does not have enough manpower to attend to all the claimants and process all the documents and other requirements needed to make a valid claim.
Aside from valid identification cards, birth certificate and a sworn statement, the claims process requires applicants to submit any or a combination of the following documents as proof: death certificate; warrant of arrest, medical or legal records; detention papers and other evidence of the abuse they endured.
Rolando Lagazon of the Claims Board said the process is meticulous because it requires the agency to come up with a historic roster of the names of all the human rights victims during Martial Law.
Selda said the process must not be so strict that it inflicts yet more suffering upon the Martial Law victims, but Lagazon said they do not want any fictitious names or people with fictitious claims to subvert the claims vetting process set forth in Republic Act 10368, the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013
Other government agencies, like the Department of Foreign Affairs, have stepped forward to help the claimants, but at the end of the day the process requires each claimant to bring their documents and fall in line at the claims office nearest to or most convenient for them to go to.
