Photo by Jire Carreon/ABS-CBN News
Marcos’ martial law victims and survivors led by SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto) and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang and Martial Law (CARMMA) appealed to the Supreme Court today to affirm former first lady Imelda Marcos’ conviction by the Sandiganbayan.
Photo by Jire Carreon/ABS-CBN News
Marcos’ martial law victims and survivors led by SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto) and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang and Martial Law (CARMMA) appealed to the Supreme Court today to affirm former first lady Imelda Marcos’ conviction by the Sandiganbayan.
In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo signed by SELDA vice-chairperson and CARMMA convener Danilo dela Fuente, the group said that “[i]n the interest of justice for all victims of human rights violations during the martial law period, we again appeal to this honorable Court to affirm Mrs. Imelda Marcos’ conviction by the Sandiganbayan. We call on the sense of truth and justice of members of this honorable Court and decide with dispatch to dismiss Mrs. Marcos’ appeal.”
SELDA made the appeal on the third anniversary of Marcos’ conviction for seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan.
“We suffered during the Marcos conjugal dictatorship, and we continue to suffer as we continue to see that Imelda is out of jail, out of accountability. The dictator’s widow continues to live the life, not sickly and dirt-poor, as she receives all the geriatric care she wants and needs using all the wealth from the people’s pockets accumulated in their more than two decades of power and might,” dela Fuente said.
It has been three years since Marcos was convicted for seven (7) counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan for illegally funneling at least $352 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s when she was governor of Metropolitan Manila. She was, however, allowed to post bail amounting to PhP300,000, and has also filed an appeal before the Supreme Court regarding her conviction.
“The Sandiganbayan decision must be upheld. The amassing of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos are among the reasons why the nation has sunk deeper into poverty, ballooning debt, and crisis. As long as there is ill-gotten wealth that remains in the hands of the Marcoses, we will continue to demand the return of all that were stolen from the Filipino people from the nation’s coffers. We will not allow more of that through another Marcos in the person of Ferdinand, Jr.,” dela Fuente said.
SELDA had inquired about the status of Marcos’ appeal last year addressed to then-Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta. There remains no action regarding the inquiry, as well as the appeal.
“We urge the Supreme Court not to be accessory to the Marcoses’ continuing grand deception and escape from accountability. In his recent statements, the dictator’s son Ferdinand, Jr. brags himself as the one who will bring progress and development to the country. A dictator father, a tax evader son, a mother convicted of graft – this is a family who should be brought by the higher court down to the darkest annals of history,” said dela Fuente.