Following the signing of a law recognizing abuses committed during the Martial Law years and compensating its victims, Bro. Eddie Villanueva on Friday called on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to appoint a Martial Law victim to head the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board.
This, as he urged the administration to immediately finalize the membership of the Claims Board and officially convene the panel to sustain the momentum started by the passage of the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.Villanueva said appointing a Martial Law victim to head the nine-member Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board will ensure that the body stays true to its mandate.
“Appointing a Martial Law victim to head the Claims Board will provide an assurance to fellow Filipinos who suffered during the Marcos dictatorship that they will receive the recognition and compensation that they deserve,” said Villanueva, himself a Martial Law victim jailed twice for opposing the Marcos regime.
“A Martial Law victim has a deeper understanding of what it truly means to be a victim and how much they and their families had to suffer because of the atrocities during the Marcos regime.”
President Aquino signed the law on Feb. 25 to highlight the EDSA People Power revolution anniversary celebration.
Under the law, the nine-member Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board is responsible for drafting the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) as well as evaluating and processing the applications for the compensations due to the victims.
According to Villanueva, the administration should waste no time in completing appointments to the Claims Board and target to convene the panel by March to fast-track the finalization of the law’s IRR and pave the way for the implementation of measures that will recognize and compensate those who suffered under the Marcosian regime.
“The President should appoint all the members by next month so the Board can get to work immediately. We should not waste any time to right the wrongs of the past,” said Villanueva.
“They have suffered tremendously during the Marcos regime, and they have waited long enough for the day when the government will officially recognize the abuses committed by the state during the Martial Law years and compensate those who were made to suffer various forms of abuse. We should not make them wait a minute longer.”
Villanueva also encouraged Martial Law human rights victims to band together and reach out to fellow victims and their families to ensure that majority, if not all, of those whose rights were violated during Martial Law are given the much-awaited recognition and compensation.
“Fellow Martial Law victims and our families have long fought for the government’s recognition of the abuses committed during those dark years in our history, as well as the just reparation for its victims. Let us continue this fight to see the successful end to our struggle to find justice to those wronged during the Martial Law years,” Villanueva said.
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