SEATTLE -- A union boss and a childhood friend of late Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos are liable for more than $8 million in damages for the deaths of two men slain as part of an effort to wipe out Marcos' political opponents, a judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled Constantine 'Tony' Baruso and Dr. Leonilo Malabed of San Francisco must pay the families of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes $8.38 million for their parts in the men's deaths.
A similar judgment was made last month. The families of Domingo and Viernes were awarded $12.7 million and $2.5 million, respectively, by a jury in a verdict against the estate of Marcos.
Baruso was president of the cannery workers' union the two victims belonged to and Malabed was a childhood friend of Marcos.
Mike Withey, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said while the ruling Friday does not stipulate from which of the two -- or both -- the damages will be collected, 'We will go after the doctor (Malabed). He's the one with the money.'
Rothstein ruled Domingo's survivors, which included his four children, should receive $6.66 million, and Viernes' family $1.72 million in damages.
Baruso and Malabed were among the defendants in a $30 million wrongful death suit filed by the victims' families. Last month, a federal court jury ruled Marcos was directly responsible for the men's deaths and awarded the families of Domingo and Viernes $12.7 million and $2.5 million in damages, respectively.
Prior to the jury trial against the Marcos estate, Rothstein and attorneys agreed that the judge would rule on claims against Malabed and Baruso.
Domingo and Viernes were shot dead in a Seattle cannery union hall on June 1, 1981, after they persuaded the international union, the Seattle-based International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union, Local 37, to approve a resolution opposing the Marcos government.
'The court concludes that plaintiffs have provided clear, cogent and convincing evidence that the Marcoses created and controlled an intelligence operation which plotted the murders of Domingo and Viernes and that funds were paid to Baruso and used to perpetrate the murders,' Rothstein wrote.
The ruling also said: 'Although involved in the intelligence operation to a lesser degree than the Marcoses, Malabed and Baruso agreed with the aims of that operation -- most significantly, the aims furthered by the murders of Domingo and Viernes.'
The dead men's survivors contended Marcos, his wife, Imelda, and Gen. Fabian Ver, former chief of Philippine security, sent agents to the United States undercover to establish and operate a network of loyalists to work against anti-Marcos dissidents.
The plaintiffs contended Baruso was paid $15,000 by Malabed to arrange the killings of Viernes and Domingo. Malabed and Baruso were not charged criminally, but King County prosecutors have said they are considering reopening the case.
Baruso's MAC-10 .45 caliber submachine gun was identified as the murder weapon.
Malabed, who moved from the Philippines to San Francisco in 1954, was alleged by plaintiffs to have established the Mabuhay Corp., a radio station, in 1978, to provide a cover for a slush fund for the pro-Marcos movement in the United States.
'Mabuhay's own documents indicate that the corporation provided funding for security projects,' the judge wrote. 'In fact ... (the documents) suggest that Mabuhay received instructions for some 'projects' from General Fabian Ver, chief of staff and head of intelligence under Marcos.'
Pompeo 'Ben' Guloy Jr., Jimmie Ramil and Fortunato 'Tony' Dictado were convicted of killing Domingo and Viernes, both of Philippine descent but born and raised in Washington state. The three men were sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
A fourth man who accompanied them to the union hall but did not go in, Boy Pilay, testified against the killers at their trial. Pilay himself was murdered in January 1983.
Philippine Congressman Bonafacio Gillego, a former intelligence officer in the Philippines, testified during the civil suit that a Marcos 'slush fund' provided $15,000 'for the murders' of Domingo and Viernes. The payment was noted in Mabuhay's expenses records as for 'a special security project,' Rothstein noted.
Defense attorneys had argued Domingo and Viernes were killed under the orders of a union leader who feared he was losing control of the union and its illegal revenues gained from illicit gambling among members working in Alaskan canneries.
