Merrill Lynch Releases $35 Million to Court in Marcos Case

Merrill Lynch agreed Monday to turn over to a U.S. court more than $35.3 million being sought by Filipino citizens who won a human rights lawsuit against their late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Robert A. Swift said after a closed-door meeting in the chambers of U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real that the brokerage house had agreed to let Real decide who is entitled to the money.

Merrill Lynch’s corporate counsel, George Schieren, confirmed that the firm agreed to surrender the funds, which are in an account set up in 1972 under the name of Arelma Inc., a Panamanian corporation.

In 1995, a federal court jury awarded $1.9 billion to 9,539 Filipino plaintiffs in a class-action suit for human rights abuses they suffered under Marcos. The suit was brought in a U.S. court in 1986 because at the time Marcos was living in exile in Hawaii. He died in 1989.

Despite the colossal verdict, Swift and his co-counsel, Sherry P. Broder of Honolulu, were able to seize only about $1 million of Marcos’ assets from the sale of a home and a Mercedes-Benz in Hawaii.

With prospects of further recovery looking dim, the plaintiffs agreed in 1999 to accept a reduced settlement of $150 million.

The money was to come from a $475-million cache in two Swiss bank accounts and subsequently turned over to the government-controlled Philippine National Bank.

Although the Philippine government agreed to surrender the money as part of the settlement, it has refused to make good on its promise, Swift said Monday.

Swift has filed a motion to set aside the $150-million settlement on the grounds that the Philippine government reneged on its agreement.

The meeting in Real’s chambers included a discussion of the impasse with Filipino authorities. It was attended by lawyers for the Philippine government and Marcos’ wife and son. Participants in those discussions declined to comment afterward, saying they were barred by the judge from doing so.

“This is a highly sensitive matter,” said former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Indiana), a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm represents the Philippine government.

Before the meeting got underway, however, Bayh said he was mystified about why the Philippine government has not freed up the money.

Also attending the meeting were James P. Linn, an Oklahoma City lawyer who represents Marcos’ widow, Imelda, and John Bartko, a San Francisco lawyer who appeared on behalf of Marcos’ son, Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. The plaintiffs have also asked Real to find Marcos’ widow and son in contempt for failing to disclose information about their assets.

Real scheduled another meeting with the lawyers Nov. 1.