On the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, a human rights group appealed to President Benigno Aquino III to support the passage of a bill giving compensation to rights victims under Martial Law.

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates and #Remember ML@40 said this is a momentous chance to show to the country and to the world that Aquino's "straight path" ethical standard of governance "breaks through impunity and leads to justice."

"(We) request Your Excellency to give an explicit public support for the soonest passage of the proposed bill providing compensation to victims of human rights violations (HRVs) during the Marcos administration under Martial Law," PAHRA chairman Max de Mesa said in an open letter to the President.

"Your support will solidly be grounded in the international human rights instruments the Philippines had ratified, as well as the increasing number of national laws passed compliant to many of the said treaties since the 1986 EDSA people power uprising," he added.

De Mesa also said Aquino's encouragement will surely enthuse the authors and/or supporters of the Bill from both Houses of Congress.

He said he and those who signed the letter are "very concerned, if not alarmed," at what they claimed were efforts even in cyberspace to distort the real happenings during Martial Law, "and to dismiss altogether the atrocious violations of rights and dignity."

He said this prompted them to launch a campaign six months earlier to broaden and to raise awareness among the citizenry, especially the youth, of the true situation during Martial Law.

The campaign also sought to justify the enactment of a long-delayed compensation bill that is fair and equitable to all victims.

"Such a move and passage, Your Excellency, would be unprecedented in the ASEAN and Asian Region. It will be a standard of fulfillment that would make us Filipinos all proud in the realm of human rights," De Mesa said.

He added thousands of victims of human rights violations engendered hope that the impunity perpetrated during that period of repression would be dealt with progressively when the Presidential Committee on Good Governance (PCGG) allotted a definite portion (P10 billion) of the confiscated ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos estate for the victims’ compensation.

He added the United Nations “Updated Principles in Combating Impunity” states “the right of victims to have an effective remedy and to receive reparations.”

"Compensation, then, while not the fullness, is an integral component of justice," he said. — LBG, GMA News