MILITANT farmers will stage a rally Friday morning to mark the 29th anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre that took place during the time of former President Corazon Aquino where 13 people were killed and several others were wounded.
Members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid launched a series of protest actions and dialogues starting Thursday in remembrance of the massacre.
“The situation of farmers in San Jose del Monte City is a living testimony of how current and previous administrations perpetuated landlessness and land grabbing,” said Eriberto Peña, leader of AMB, a local chapter of peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
“The same issues raised by thousands of farmers who joined the January 1987 week-long protest at the then Ministry of Agrarian Reform and Mendiola are the same issues faced by farmers of San Jose Del Monte City. Then and now, there is no genuine land reform and farmers remain victims of perennial land grabbing,” Peña said.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Thursday brushed aside the possibility of a repeat of the infamous massacre or any other similar violent incidents of crowd dispersal procedures and said he had ordered Supt. Mannan Muarip of Manila Police District Station 4 to ensure peace and order in Mendiola and its vicinity.
Muarip, for his part, said the MPD leadership as well as personnel from the National Capital Region Police Office are implementing a policy of maximum tolerance in anticipation of activities by groups commemorating the incident.
The Mendiola massacre incident took place on this date 29 years ago, when some 15,000 marchers led by farmers were violently dispersed by anti-protest forces led by then Western Police District director Alfredo Lim.
The dispersal left 13 marchers dead, 39 others with gunshot wounds, and 12 more had bruises and other injuries in different parts of their body.