The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which is tasked with recovering the Marcoses' alleged ill-gotten wealth, refused to comment on the agreement.

Officials there said they must still wait for PCGG Chairman Magdangal Elma, who left for Hawaii on Monday "for a speaking engagement," to make an official announcement.

Under the preliminary agreement, the distribution of the money would be supervised by the US District Court in Hawaii, which in 1993 found Marcos liable for atrocities committed by soldiers during his rule, the lawyers said.

"A despot who abuses his people will finally pay," said a statement issued by US-based lawyer Robert Swift and Filipino lawyer Rod Domingo, the victims' counsel.

Domingo, who released the statement in Manila, told Reuters the agreement still needs the approval of the Manila government, which has accused Marcos of looting the treasury and also lays claims to his assets.

President Estrada has said he is willing to share some of the Marcos' assets with the victims.

Domingo said the agreement was signed for the Marcos family by former First Lady Imelda Marcos and her son, Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and by Swift for the victims.

The Marcos family declined comment on the report.

"All statements will come from the office of President Estrada," a spokesman for Bongbong Marcos' son told Reuters.

The Hawaii court had ordered the Marcos estate to pay $2 billion to victims of torture and to relatives of dissidents who disappeared or were killed by soldiers during the Marcos regime.

The victims agreed to a compromise amount of $150 million because it would take years to collect the full amount from the Marcoses, who had disputed the Hawaii court ruling, Domingo said.

"The Marcoses and the Philippine government have agreed to a settlement of $150 million," the victims' lawyers said. "Never before have victims of human rights abuses in any country recovered on a judgment against the perpetrator."

Domingo said the money would be drawn from the more than $500 million in Marcos deposits previously held in Swiss banks. Switzerland has transferred the deposits to an escrow account in Manila pending a court ruling on who actually owns the money.

Mrs. Marcos has said her family could be worth over P500 billion, but said her husband acquired his wealth by trading in gold before he became president.

In a related development, some human rights victims rejected the amount that they would receive, saying $150 million would not be enough to cover 10,000 victims.

"We were asking for a third of the money, not a pittance like this," said Marie Hilaw-Enriquez, secretary general of a group of human rights victims.

While the 10,000 victims would get at least P600,000 each, President Estrada said negotiations with the Marcoses on how to divide the remaining $430 million held in escrow at the Philippine National Bank is not yet finished.

The Chief Executive admitted that his talks with the Marcos family are still ongoing and that no agreement has been reached.

"My talks with Mrs. Marcos are on-and-off," he said.

In Congress, Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III sought a thorough review of the performance of government lawyers handling the ill-gotten wealth cases.

He said such a reexamination is necessary "to find out whether there was a collusion (between the prosecution and the defense panels) in the handling of these cases."

Aquino's statement came after the Sandiganbayan acquitted Mrs. Marcos and Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora on a damage suit filed by the PCGG.

This is the second major case that Mrs. Marcos has won. The first acquittal was on Oct. 6 last year, when the Supreme Court saved her from an impending 12-year jail term by dismissing charges that she underpriced a state-owned prime property in Pasay City.

Aquino said the performance review should be focused on PCGG lawyers in particular.

"I think the performance of the PCGG should be reviewed. If it turns out that there was negligence on their part, then there is a need to review the cases again," he said.

He clarified that the review will focus on how the government can rectify its errors in handling ill-gotten wealth cases.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said the government can elevate the case before the Supreme Court.

By Marichu Villanueva, Romel Bagares, Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla, wire reports