Source:
ReutersNation, 6/13/2008 1:42 AM June 12, 2008
US Supreme Court rules against victims over Marcos money
Reuters
WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday against nearly 10,000 victims of human rights abuses during the regime of Philippine ruler Ferdinand Marcos in a dispute over $35 million in an account held by the late dictator.
The decision was a victory for the government in Manila, which had argued the dispute over the money must be dismissed from the US court system and should be settled in Philippine courts.
The justices overturned a ruling by a US appeals court based in California that had sided with the victims. The high court decided the case must be dismissed.
Marcos, who ruled the Philippines for two decades until his overthrow in a "people power" uprising in 1986, and his family are accused of stealing up to $10 billion from the Philippines. Only a fraction of that amount has been recovered.
The dispute involved a New York brokerage account at Merrill Lynch & Co that Marcos set up in 1972 in the name of a suspected dummy corporation with a $2 million deposit.
Read more:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=121587