The 14-year autocratic rule of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines came to an end in 1986 when the nonviolent People Power Revolution took place. The Marcos era, during which the country was under martial law, was infamous for brutal human rights violations, including rampant assassinations, extrajudicial arrests and detentions, forced disappearances and torture of political opponents and civilians.

In 1986, the new government established a Presidential Committee on Human Rights to investigate and report on the human rights violations of the Marcos era. (Read more about the committee.)

The committee was replaced in 1987 by a new, constitutionally created Commission of Human Rights of Philippines. (Read more about the commission.) 

In January 2011, more than 25 years after the transition, a United States district court in Hawaii approved a settlement between the victims of Marcos-era violations and the Marcos estate. The Commission on Human Rights will distribute US$7.5 million to the 7,526 victims who brought a class-action lawsuit against Marcos for crimes against humanity. (Read more about the class-action lawsuit.)