These are among the issues causing discord between the two groups making up the 9,539 victims of human rights violations during martial law—the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) and Claimants 1081.

Selda commands the biggest number of rights victims. Claimants 1081, a breakaway faction, counts 3,000 as members.

The class suit that won the judgment against the estate of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos has 5,475 victims of torture and 3,184 of summary execution, and some 880 who disappeared.

While the two groups agree that the ''midnight insertion'' of Clause 5.2 in the settlement agreement--that would absolve Marcos's heirs of rights violations--has to be scrapped, the manner by which they want it carried out differ.

Selda, with lawyer Romeo Capulong as general counsel and Marie Hilao-Enriquez as secretary general, wants class suit lead counsel Robert Swift to ''withdraw his signature and renegotiate'' the proposed settlement with the Marcoses and demand the scrapping of the obnoxious provisions.

Claimants 1081, led by Sectoral Rep. Loretta Ann ''Etta'' Rosales, its founding chair, wants the victims to use the ''formal fairness hearing'' in Hawaii on April 29 as venue for raising their objections.

Burden

Capulong said Swift should not put the burden of seeking the deletion of the provisions on the victims.

''The scrapping of the obnoxious provisions should be done through renegotiation because Swift has already approved the settlement,'' Capulong said.

''Swift should withdraw his signature first, then renegotiate the terms and conditions.''

Rosales took up the cudgels for Swift, saying the absence of his signature on the page that contained the obnoxious provisions was a sign that he had reservations.

She insisted that the scheduling of the fairness hearing only showed that the victims' objections would be heard.

But Capulong argued: ''We don't buy that because Swift knew about it and even submitted to (US District Court Judge Manuel) Real for approval the proposed settlement even if it contained detestable clauses.''

Real gave his provisional approval to the Feb. 24 deal but set the hearing on April 29 to determine the ''fairness, reasonableness and adequacy'' of the proposed settlement.

'Fair enough

Claimants 1081 thinks the amount of $150 million is ''fair enough without the horrid clauses.''

''The fact that the Marcoses would dish out such amount, no matter how little, is already an act of admitting guilt that some 9,539 victims suffered human rights violations during martial law,'' Rosales said.

Earlier, Capulong said the $150 million should be considered only a ''partial satisfaction'' of the $2.5 billion judgment.

''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,'' he said.

But yesterday, Capulong said he had been misquoted by the Inquirer, although the words attributed to him were taken from a press statement he had issued and from an interview.

He said the Selda members, who held a general assembly in Manila yesterday, would agree to the $150 million provided the obnoxious provisions were scrapped.

Capulong added that the Selda members would also accept the $150 million provided they would not be made to again sign ''proof of claims'' to justify their inclusion in the list of claimants.

Earlier, Swift's local co-counsel, Rod Domingo, said some of the victims may be stricken from the list after the verification process to be conducted here by the US court through a Special Master.

Origin

The discord between the two groups may be traced to June 1991, when Selda lawyer and Swift's local co-counsel, Jose Mari Velez, died.

Selda asked Capulong to replace Velez as its general counsel.

But Swift took it against Selda when Capulong--also counsel for Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Ma. Sison in a separate class action suit--filed a motion for intervention to make Selda the class action center.

''The Selda people were the ones who worked hard to locate the human rights victims nationwide, so it is only proper that these victims be represented by Selda acting as a center,'' Capulong said.

For this reason, Capulong was accused of trying to replace Swift as a court-appointed counsel, especially when Selda members solicited a ''special power of attorney (SPA)'' assigning the Capulong-led Public Law Interest Center to represent them.

Real has refused to recognize the SPA.

Capulong, however, said it had been his position ''that Swift can never be replaced because he is the court-appointed counsel.''

Capulong also said Swift had vigorously opposed the Selda motion because he wanted to ''manipulate the victims'' by claiming that he had consulted most of them, when he did not.

Rosales countered that this was ''only because Selda did not want to cooperate with Swift.''

She said those who opposed Selda's position and the gathering of SPAs broke away and eventually formed Claimants 1081 in 1994.

''Well, they formed their own group only after we won a $2.5-billion judgment (in 1992),'' Enriquez said of Claimants 1081.

But Rosales said that ''ever since, we had been reaching out to all the claimants, no matter to which group they belong.''

This was why, she said, some of the victims chose to be members of both groups.

'Nothing

Sison may get nothing from the $150 million because of his separate compromise settlement with the Marcoses, Domingo said yesterday.

Domingo said the agreement was reached on Aug. 13, 1997, and was signed by Carl Varady, lawyer for Sison and Jaime Piopongco, and Lex Smith, lawyer for the Marcoses.

He said Sison was awarded by the Marcoses $750,000 in damages, and Piopongco $250,000.

''Imelda Marcos made it a condition to settle with the 9,539 victims if Sison will not get a centavo from the $150-million deal,'' Domingo said.

''After all, he has a bigger share in a separate settlement.''

But Capulong said Domingo was ''spreading lies.''

''It was not a compromise settlement because there was no money involved,'' said Capulong, a member of the New York Bar which represented Sison and Piopongco during the September 1992 trial at Real's court in Hawaii.

Besides, he said, Sison would ''never enter into a compromise settlement'' with the Marcoses, much less ''talk with any of them.''

Capulong said an agreement was reached only on the issue of proving the claims for damages.

''Instead of proving the claims for damages, the Marcoses agreed to stipulate the amount instead of asking my clients to present evidence,'' he said.

Based on the August 1997 stipulation between the Marcoses and Sison and Piopongco, Real entered compensatory damages for his clients in the amount of $750,000 and $250,000 respectively, he said.

''But this amount simply represented the compensatory judgment, not a settlement,'' Capulong stressed. ''I dare Domingo to produce the $750,000.''

By Christine Herrera