Nearly 10,000 Filipino survivors of the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship or their relatives may finally see some of the money owed them after first filing a lawsuit in the mid-1980s. Marcos’ estate has avoided paying the plaintiffs nearly $2 billion since losing a court battle in 1995, thanks to the former dictator hiding much of his stolen fortune in various shell companies.

 

But last week a federal judge in Fort Worth approved a $10 million settlement which will result in the sale of 4,000 acres in Texas and 520 acres in Colorado, so that damages can be paid to the 9,539 members of the class-action lawsuit. The property is owned by seven companies that purchased the land with funds from the Marcos estate.

 

The plaintiffs were victims of torture, summary executions and other harsh treatments during Marcos’ authoritarian rule, which lasted from 1965 to 1986, when he fled to Hawaii. He died three years later.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Filipino Regime's Victims Win Settlement Tied to Land in Tarrant County (by Aman Batheja, Dallas Morning News)

Marcos Victims Win $10 Million Settlement (by Dan McCue, Courthouse News Service)

Romulo Del Prado v. BN Development Co. (U.S. District Court, Northern Texas, Fort Worth) (pdf)