Human rights claims board speeding up releasing claims of martial law victims  

March 28, 2017

The Human Rights Victims' Claims Board (HRVCB) has accelerated the process of evaluating and releasing of claims of martial law victims as part of its commitment to President Rodrigo Duterte to expedite the release of claims.

The board, in a statement from the Presidential Communications Office, transmitted to the Office of Executive Secretary  Salvador Medialdea Board a resolution approving the preliminary list of 4,000 eligible claimants and release of partial monetary reparation; Board Resolution No. 03-2017, publishing the list of eligible claimants; a memorandum of agreement between HRVCB and Landbank pertaining to the use of the bank's cash card facility to pay legitimate claimants; and an acknowledgement receipt from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), pertaining to the letter of board requesting for the release of P300-million from the Bureau of Treasury for the partial payment of monetary reparation.

Duterte earlier met with officers of the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) and members of board in Malacañan to discuss the release of monetary reparation to victims of human rights violations during martial law.

The meeting was also attended by senior government officials which included ES Medialdea, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

SELDA sought the  assistance of Duterte to expedite the release of the claims since the reparation law--the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 had been passed four years ago and martial law victims have yet to receive recognition and compensation.

The board has only until May 12, 2018 to complete reparation process of about 75,000 claimants.

To date, 4,000 claims have been approved out of the 30,027 claims adjudicated, and 45,703 applications are still to be resolved.

In the meeting, Duterte through Medialdea discussed with the board drafting a resolution seeking to speed up  processing of claims, re-compute claims amount based on actual received applications, release 50 percent of the monetary value, revise the processing timeline, and collaborate with concerned government agencies and other human rights groups to expedite the distribution and acceptance of decisions.

The board, in its resolutions, committed to distribute 50 percent of the total estimated reparation value due to the first 4,000 eligible claimants, consisting of 2,661 conclusively presumed victims and 1,339 new applicants.

Also outlined in the documents submitted to executive secretary are activities required by law the board needs to perform before the actual delivery of payment, such as docketing of appeals from the claimants and oppositions from any interested party; resolution of appeals and oppositions; publication of the final list of eligible claimants; and submission of the list of the first 4,000 eligible claimants to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Department of Health (DOH) for the delivery of non-monetary reparation benefits. DMS