MALACAÑANG on Friday vowed there will not be a repeat of the Mendiola Massacre 30 years after it happened as the Duterte administration is committed to resolve land-reform cases that the previous administration failed to do.
“With respect to the Mendiola Massacre, I think it is a lesson that we should learn that you cannot stop citizens from protesting, which is a guaranteed right under the Constitution,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters.
“No government can abuse its right to enforce the law to use it as an excuse to maim, kill or injure protesters. That will not happen under this government.
Panelo made his statement even as Rep. Ariel Casilao urged President Rodrigo Duterte to compensate the victims of the Mendiola Massacre on Jan. 22, 1987, by issuing an executive order or a presidential proclamation.
“If it was done for the [human] rights victims of martial law, it is possible for the victims of the Mendiola Massacre [to be compensated because] it was carried out under the Cory Aquino regime,” Casilao said.
The Mendiola Massacre took place on Mendiola Street in San Miguel, Manila, on Jan. 22, when security forces violently dispersed a farmers’ march to Malacañang to protest the lack of government action on land reform.
According to reports, anti-riot personnel disguised as civilians fired on the unarmed protesters, initially killing at least 13 and injuring almost a hundred.
Former KMP leader and Mendiola Massacre survivor Rafael Mariano, now Agrarian Reform the secretary, gave 13 seedlings to farmers to commemorate the lives lost during the bloodbath.
“There will be an “Agrarian Justice on Wheels” so there will be a faster response on agrarian- reform cases,” Mariano said.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said justice was still to be served 30 years after the massacre.
The group said no one was arrested and indicted in the case.
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos are still in power in Hacienda Luisita. Landlords are still in control of vast tract of land and haciendas remain intact,” group secretary general Antonio Flores said.