Philippine National Bank v. United States District Court for the District of Hawaii

The Philippine National Bank petitions this court for a writ of mandamus to prevent the district court from pursuing contempt and discovery proceedings against the Bank because of the Bank’s transfer of funds to the Republic of the Philippines pursuant to a judgment of the Philippine Supreme Court. We conclude that the district court’s orders violated the act of state doctrine, and we accordingly issue the writ.

BACKGROUND

This mandamus petition represents one more chapter in a long-running dispute over the right to the assets of the estate of former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos. On one side is a class of plaintiffs who obtained a large judgment in the federal district court in Hawaii against the Marcos estate for human rights violations by the Marcos regime. The judgment included an injunction restraining the estate and its agents or aiders and abettors from transferring any of the' estate’s assets. On the other side is the Republic of the Philippines, which independently has sought forfeiture of the Marcos estate’s assets on the ground that they were stolen by Marcos from the Philippine government and its people.

In an earlier case, we dealt with the attempt of…