In a press conference here recently, CHR chair Chito Gascon also said the construction of the proposed P500-million Martial Law Museum in Quezon City would also start by next year, but the museum would instead be named Freedom Museum.
“We have about 75,000 claimants to the P10-billion compensation fund and the human rights violations board is processing the claims so that by next year, we will pay out from the P10-billion fund,” Gascon said in a press conference during the blessing here of the new CHR regional building costing P14 million donated by the Spanish government.
He explained that the compensation would finally realize one of the objectives of Republic Act No. 10368 which provides for “reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime, documentation of said violations, appropriating funds therefor and for other purposes.”
The law also created the Human Rights Victims Claims Board which is now processing the claims. The board is composed of representatives from various government agencies led by the CHR.
Gascon said the P10-billion compensation fund and the P500 million allocation for the museum have remained in the national treasury.
“The funds are from the interest earned from deposits of recovered Marcos wealth,” he explained.
Gascon said the National Historical Commission, led by Mariz Diokno, is launching soon a contest for the design of the museum which would be built on a two-hectare lot donated by the National Housing Authority and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources near the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Diliman, Quezon City.
“By next year, construction of the museum could start according to the winning design, and by 2019, the museum could be up and going,” he said, adding that a multi-agency memorial commission would oversee the construction of the building and, later, its management and operation.
Gascon said the Freedom Museum would highlight the “struggles of Filipinos for freedom, while focusing on martial law and human rights.”
He said the last May 9 elections reflected that many Filipinos, “particularly the youth, have not been adequately informed about the facts of martial law, so the museum would be a testament to the dark moments of those days.”
“History books do not provide details on the Marcos dictatorship. So we look at the museum as part of a project to ensure we will not have a revisionist view of history,” he stressed.
