MANILA - The wife of late Philippine ruler Ferdinand Marcos has praised a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against victims of human rights abuses in the country who had sought $35 million held in an account by the dictator.
"Thank God that once more, truth and justice have prevailed," - "The American justice system works. God bless America " Imelda Marcos said in a statement.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that would have allowed the money held in a U.S. account to be distributed among 10,000 victims of rights abuses during Marcos' 20-year rule.The decision was a victory for the government in Manila, which had argued the dispute should be settled in a Philippine court.
The case 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.The amount in the account has since grown to over $35 million.
Lawyers for the victims had argued they should get the $35 million as part of a $2 billion judgment in U.S. courts against the Marcos estate over human rights abuses under his rule, which ended in a popular revolt in 1986.
The Marcos family and business cronies were accused of looting up to $10 billion from state coffers but Imelda, renowned for her extravagant shopping trips, has been cleared in most cases against her due to insufficient evidence.Marcos, a key ally to the United States during the Cold War, died in Hawaii in 1989. His widow returned to the Philippines in 1991.
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