Phillipine Court of Appeals Refuses to Enforce $2 Billion Judgment Awarded by a U.S. Court in ATS and TVPA Case

The Court of Appeals of the Philippines has upheld its earlier decision against the enforcement of a Hawaii federal district court’s judgment granting Martial Law victims under the Marcos regime almost $2 billion in damages.

In refusing to enforce the judgment, the Philippines appellate court held that the case, which was a class action suit filed by 10,000 victims against the Marcos estate, gave “no opportunity for the … Estate [of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos] to confront each and every claimant,” and therefore the judgment was obtained in violation of Marcos’ constitutional due process rights.  The court declared that “rules of comity should not be made to prevail over our constitution.”

The Court of Appeals also concluded that the judgment against Marcos’ estate was “constitutionally infirm” because, although the complaint was filed under the Alien Torts Statute, the judgment was imposed under the Torture Victim Protection Act.