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Farmers Urge Noynoy to Reopen Mendiola Massacre Case

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Farmers Urge Noynoy to Reopen Mendiola Massacre Case


By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — As the 24th anniversary of the infamous Mendiola Massacre nears, farmers led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas KMP) called on President Benigno S. Aquino III to bring justice and closure to the issue by reopening the investigation.

“President Aquino has yet to prove that he is no different from his predecessors. From the time he entered Malacanang he has yet to lay down any decree, ruling or program that will genuinely benefit Filipino farmers. His own mother former president Cory Aquino presided over a government that committed so many violations against the economic, political and human rights of farmers – none of us has forgotten the Mendiola Massacre, ” said KMP secretary-general Danilo Ramos.

“We challenge the 50-year-old president to re-open the Mendiola Massacre case and pursue a full-blown and independent probe. The murderers are still out there and worse, nobody from past administrations and even under Mr. Aquino’s administration dares to revive the investigation which we have been demanding since 1987.”

On Jan. 22, 1987, some 10,000 to 15,000 farmers marched from the agrarian reform office in Quezon City to Mendiola in Manila to remind the late former president Corazon C. Aquino to make good on her word to implement genuine agrarian reform. According to reports, anti-riot personnel under the command of then Capital Regional Command commander Gen. Ramon Montaño, Task Force Nazareno under the command of Col. Cesar Nazareno and police forces under the command of Western Police District (WPD) Chief Brig. Gen. Alfredo Lim had been prepared to block the protestors.

The phalanx of civil disturbance control units was comprised of policemen from the WPD, members of the Integrated National Police Field Force, members of the Philippine Marine Corps, and the Marine Civil Disturbance Control Battalion. Behind the line of these fully armed personnel were army trucks, water cannons, fire trucks and two Mobile Dispersal Teams prepared to launch tear gas.

As the farmers reached Claro M. Recto, the government forces attacked. In the melee, 13 farmers were killed, 39 were wounded by gunshots, and 20 suffered various injuries. Killed were Danilo Arjona, Evangelio, Leopoldo Alonzo, Angelito Guiterrez, Adelfa Aribe, Rodrigo Grampan, Dionisio Bautista, Bernabe Laquindanum, Roberto Caylo, Sonny Boy Perez, Vincent Campomanes, Roberto Yumul, and Ronilo Dumanico.

In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the peace panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) withdrew from peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

Now, 24 years later, the KMP remains vigilant in demanding justice for the slain and punishment for the masterminds and perpetrators of the massacre.

Ramos, in a statement, called on Mrs. Aquino’s son, the incumbent president, to reopen the case and support the conduct of a full-blown and independent probe. The KMP has also issued the same call to former presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when they were in power, but the call was met with silence. All these years, the group said, justice has been denied the victims, their families, and the rest of the protestors who could have been killed in the attack.

Flashback to Cory government’s Citizen’s Mendiola Commission

Back in 1987, Cory Aquino issued Administrative Order No. 1, which created a body to investigate the massacre. Called the Citizens’ Mendiola Commission, the body later absolved the security forces involved in the brutal attack that left so many dead. It was composed of retired Supreme Court Justice Vicente Abad Santos as chairman, retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Y. Feria as member and Antonio U. Miranda. Created on January 22, 1987, it was tasked to submit its findings no later than February 7, 1987..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/01/14/farmers-urge-noynoy-to-reopen-mendiola-massacre-case/

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