This was announced yesterday by human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong, who said that under the proposed settlement, the claimants would have ''more to lose than gain.''

But the heirs of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos are said to be starting to wiggle out of the proposed settlement and have allegedly engaged various ''public relations'' firms to denounce the historic $2.5 billion award to the rights victims as ''invalid'' and ''fraudulent.''

The Marcoses allegedly paid a huge amount to commission a study entitled ''Grand Scale Swindling Sanctioned by an American Court'' to denounce US District Judge Manuel Real, who had ruled in favor of the human rights class suit against the dictator's estate.

The study was allegedly done by the ''Katotohanan at Katarungan Foundation Inc. (KKFI),'' which was formed in December 1998. Its membership is unknown.

Capulong, general counsel of victims belonging to the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda), said ''the class suit members believe the proposed settlement is bad and unjust considering the little amount and the obnoxious provisions that it carries.''

He told the Inquirer that under the proposed settlement, the claimants would get only a net amount of four percent of the $2.5 billion for which the Marcos estate had been ruled liable.

He also said that if the $2.5-billion judgment were fully enforced today, each claimant would receive about $250,000, as against the estimated $16,000 under the proposed settlement.

Selda counts as members the majority of the 9,539 rights victims. Claimants 1081, a breakaway faction, counts only 3,000.

'Bloated list'

The study allegedly commissioned by the Marcoses claimed that the US court found them liable for damages using evidence which was not only ''insufficient'' but also ''invalid, tainted with fraud and inadmissible.''

It claimed that the list of 9,539 victims was ''bloated,'' and that there should be only 3,301, as ''what the evidence warranted.''

The Marcoses were said to be moving to make it appear that Real's $2.5-billion judgment for damages, which was affirmed by the US Supreme Court, was an ''imaginary legal issue.''

One of those allegedly hired by the Marcoses to distort the claimants' victory is a certain George Balagtas.

In a statement, Balagtas said that most of the claimants were ''confirmed communists who quite easily have been eliminated by their own comrades for various reasons.''

He also echoed an earlier Marcos statement that it was not the dictator but former President Fidel Ramos who should be tried for human rights violations during martial law as the former Constabulary chief often ''acted without the knowledge of then President Marcos.''

Sources said the Marcoses were also bent on dividing the ranks of the claimants so they would fight among themselves, and on pitting the human rights lawyers handling the case against one another.

The KKFI study, which is about two inches thick, documented the rift between the lawyers of the rights victims as well as the list of 9,539 claimants.

It also listed the supposed legal remedies which the KKFI could perform to prevent the $2.5-billion judgment from being enforced.

'Exclusion'

''I am not suggesting that the victims should get the full amount of $590 million now in escrow at the Philippine National Bank,'' Capulong said.

''What I am proposing, and what the victims want, is that part of the total judgment be preserved so that the victims can still go after the recovery of Marcos ill-gotten wealth under the Estrada administration until the judgment is fully satisfied.''

Apart from receiving what he described as ''crumbs,'' Capulong said the rights victims were also facing the ''risk of being excluded'' from the list of claimants.

At present, only the 137 randomly selected claimants who gave depositions during the trial in a US district court, are assured of getting their share of the $150 million.

Capulong noted that the rest would have to prove their claims through a ''truth commission,'' as demanded by lawyers of the Marcoses, thus running the risk of being barred from sharing in the settlement.

For these reasons, Capulong said, the victims are demanding that class suit lead counsel Robert Swift ''withdraw'' his signature and renegotiate the terms and conditions of the settlement.

Capulong took note of the statement made by Swift's local co-counsel, Rod Domingo, that the victims' share may be increased if some of the 9,539 claimants are disqualified.

''Swift and Domingo should explain why they agreed to subject the victims to a humiliating process of proving their claims again after going through that process in 1993 and 1994, and after having successfully proven and validated their claims,'' Capulong said.

'Duplication'

In a separate interview, Domingo said the number of those who were tortured and summarily executed and who disappeared during martial law did not reach 9,539.

He said this alleged discrepancy could be attributed to a ''duplication'' in filing the claims.

For instance, he said, a victim of summary execution had three heirs--the mother, the wife and a sibling--who filed their claims separately.

''Each of them was given claim numbers,'' Domingo told the Inquirer. ''This could not be avoided because who would think that a person from Mindanao and another from Benguet would act as heir of one and the same victim?''

In another case, he said, two women filed claims on behalf of their husband who had disappeared.

Domingo said the matter could be cleared when Judge Real sends a ''Special Master'' here to ''verify'' the authenticity of the claims.

''I am not saying that some of the claimants are not authentic. What I am saying is that the purging of the list would give justice to whoever is the legitimate claimant,'' Domingo said.

But Capulong insisted that the verification process would be ''tedious.'

For example, he said, the heir of a victim of summary execution would find it difficult to again find witnesses to the case.

He also pointed out that those who had disappeared did not have detention records to prove they were victims of martial law.

''Some of the victims are now senile. The others have died,'' Capulong added.

Distribution

Walter Chinn, clerk of the US District Court, has sent out a notice to the victims that ''final distribution'' would still be arranged.

''As the court has not yet approved the distribution approach, you should not assume you will receive any specific amount,'' he said.

Chinn also said that should the court give its final approval to the settlement, any party to the settlement may object to specific claims which would then be reviewed by the Special Master.

''Except for the 137 claims already reviewed by the federal jury, the Special Master shall review all claims utilizing the criteria adopted by the court at the trial on compensatory damages for establishing human rights violations,'' he said.

The court has extended the deadline within which the victims may submit their claim proofs from March 30 to May 28.

But Real said the ''formal fairness hearing'' would proceed at 10 a.m. on April 29 in Hawaii.

Domingo said more than 1,000 notices were sent out yesterday. He said he hoped to reach as many claimants as possible within the week.

Capulong, however, warned ''Swift, Domingo and company to go slow on the settlement agreement.''

''In their rush to collect their huge fees and reimbursement of expenses, they should not manipulate and deceive the victims and the Filipino people into accepting a bad settlement,'' he said.

But Domingo countered: ''The reimbursement will not even reach one percent of the $150 million, and we cannot dictate on the amount of lawyers' fees because it is up to the court to decide.''

Consultations

In Davao City, Nenita Labial, secretary general of Selda-Southern Mindanao, said it would hold consultations with and an education campaign among rights victims to convince them not to accept money from the proposed $150-million settlement.

Labial said the consultations, scheduled to start middle of this month, would be held in the cities of Davao, Kidapawan, Tagum and General Santos, and in Digos, Davao del Sur.

She aired the suspicion that the conflicting opinions of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Sandiganbayan over which court should hear and approve the proposed settlement were meant to ''divert'' public attention from the victims' opposition to the deal.

From the Netherlands, the National Democratic Front rejected the proposed settlement, saying it violated an agreement which provided for indemnities to guerrillas who were tortured or killed while fighting the Marcos dictatorship.

The NDF statement was signed by Luis Jalandoni, chair of the panel negotiating peace with the Philippine government.

With a report from Jowel F. Canuday, PDI Mindanao Bureau

By Christine Herrera and Donna S. Cueto