The Heinous, Incredulous MENDIOLA MASSACRE, January 22, 1987

by Jesusa Bernardo

STUNNED. That's the best word to describe my mind's reaction to the Mendiola Massacre.  Exactly 24 years ago today, Thursday morning when I learned of the massacre incident that occurred at historic Mendiola the previous day.

I remember walking into the college library and seeing from a distance the headline in a newspaper my classmate was reading, held up with both hands to eye level. The picture of the lifeless bodies on the streets. The headline says Mendiola. Oh, well, he's reading an archive newspaper from Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship days, I thought.



Taking my seat beside him, I learned a most incredulous truth. That was no old Martial Law newspaper. The headline--it was that day's major news! Shocking, shocking news! After driving away the "evil" dictator, that Marcos, that heartless 'human-rights violator,' and installing the good gal, widow of beloved hero Ninoy Aquino via the most peaceful EDSA  revolution, we get this????

How can farmer rallyists be possibly  murdered just like that under the "democratic" presidency of Tita Cory? Marcos, the 'bad guy,' is gone, right? It actually took several seconds (or was it minutes?) before that reality sank in. It was simply unbelievable.


NOT Cory. ???

At any rate, Ninoy was my hero and his widow, the restorer of Philippine democracy. My mind had to reconcile the fact of the heinous Mendiola massacre with my view of the Corazon Cojuangco Aquino presidency. It must be the fascist military elements, I thought. No way Cory could have ordered that. That coup-plotting Juan Ponce Enrile and his RAM boys must have been behind that gruesome daylight massacre.

Of course, now I know better. Cory could not have been that innocent because, otherwise, her administration should have allowed the State to be sued.  The case that began from the suit filed by the heirs of the 13 deceased victims and the injured who sued for damages against the Philippine Republic was eventually dismissed, affirmed by the Supreme Court because the State refused to given its consent to be sued. Besides, Cory was not exactly friends to noisy farmers who demand the just call of land reform. Cory's land reform program--the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)--was baloney since she  couldn't even set the 'supreme sacrifice'  of her family's Hacienda Luisita to genuine land distribution.


Fake, (Hacienda Luisita) Designer Land Reform

While the 1987 Mendiola Massacre involving the death of farmers pressing for genuine agrarian reform seemed to have made Cory speed up the implementation of land reform but not without first inserting a novel Stock Distribution Option (SDO) into her Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP (now the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law or CARL). The SDO gives farmer tenants shares in a plantation corporation without actually transferring land. SDO had been criticized not only as possibly unconstitutional but more so, as a way for landowners to keep control of the land and farmers–and for the Cojuangco-Aquinos to avoid distributing Hacienda Luisita. As well, the Cory administration had the Court of Appeals dismiss the government case filed against the TADECO owners, who were no less than the President’s own family and kin (she is said to have divested herself of personal shares in the company).

When CARP took effect in 1989, the Cojuangco family adopted the SDO option despite many criticisms that the option disadvantaged the farmers. Only less than 5,000 out of the nearly 6,500 hectares of the original Hacienda Luisita land were submitted to the Agrarian Reform department. The exclusion of the combined 386.6 hectares of residential, commercial, road and other land improvement portions of the hacienda markedly lowered the value of land earmarked for land reform to only P40,000 per hectare. The valuation process was also seen as irregular if not appropriate, with the standing crop not only being included but also being categorized as non-land asset. The result is that when the land was incorporated into what is now Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) as spin-off of TADECO, the farmers became nominal shareholders, getting only 33.296% versus the 66.704 percent shares of the Cojuangco-Aquinos.


Gruesome Open Massacre

I found this actual video of the bloody, "historic" massacre 24 years and one day ago, LESS THAN A YEAR into the Cory Aquino presidency. The video is rather so gruesome that watching it yesterday initially made me don the same incredulous reaction I had back in my college days when I first learned the news of Mendiola Massacre.

Mendiola Massacre January 22, 1987 - The Massacre
Uploaded by kmppio. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

The military back then--up to now--even had the guts to blame the farmer groups for supposedly having been infiltrated by the communist New People's Army (NPA).  That was usual red scare stuff, of course. It is perhaps fortunate that some survivors of the "Black Thursday" massacre are still alive to tell their grim tales. Teresita Arjona, who was with her mother during the rally, tells of "owner-type" jeeps  running around as the protesters were being shot at. Communist handiwork? I don't think so.

Photo by Jo A. Santos / bulatlat.com

Pedro Gonzalez:

“Suddenly I heard shots. I didn’t know at first that they were gunshots; it sounded more like clapping. First it was intermittent, then soon the sound was loud and deafening. There was chaos, everyone began running away from the sound of gunfire. Men, women, children were running. Yes, there were children with us that day. I also ran, and I am a little ashamed even now to admit that I failed to help those whom I saw fall on the pavement. It was all I could do to keep from falling myself.”

Click here to read the story

Photo by Jo A. Santos / bulatlat.com

Teresita Arjona:

“Everyone was running, running every which way. All I could think of was getting to Lawton where the caravan vehicles were; that and returning to my children. I didn’t know what happened to Danilo, I didn’t see if he was able to run or get away. I was crying as I ran and I didn’t immediately notice that my mother and I were both barefoot. The streets were littered with slippers and bags and streamers and placards. People were yelling, but I didn’t know if it was in pain or in outrage,” she says.

Nanay Tess herself felt rage when she saw, even as she ran for safety, that there were “owner-type” jeeps driving alongside the protestors who were scurrying for safety. “They were shooting at us, at everyone who was running!” she says, anger in her eyes, in her voice.

Click here to read the story


Mendiola Massacre according to Bulatlat (excerpts):

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.

At the back of the marines were four 6×6 army trucks, occupying the entire width of Mendiola street, followed immediately by two water cannons, one on each side of the street and eight fire trucks, four trucks on each side of the street. Stationed farther behind the CDC forces were the two Mobile Dispersal Teams (MDT) each composed of two tear gas grenadiers, two spotters, an assistant grenadier, a driver and the team leader.

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).

________


Sources: 

24 Years Later, the Wounds of Mendiola Still Bleed. 22 January 2010. http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/01/22/24-years-later-the-wounds-of-mendiola-still-bleed/
Atty. Fred. The Mendiola Massacre: What Happened according to Jurisprudence. 22 January 2008. http://jlp-law.com/blog/the-mendiola-massacre-what-happened-according-to-jurisprudence/
Silverio, Inna Alleco. Farmers Urge Noynoy to Reopen Mendiola Massacre Case. 14 January 2011.
http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/01/14/farmers-urge-noynoy-to-reopen-mendiola-massacre-case/


Photo art: Jesusa Bernardo


Photo credits:

Jo A. Santos / bulatlat.com
Bulatlat.com
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Mendiomasscre.jpg
http://videosonar.com/2/video/%20cory/xgghmq.html
http://kasaysayan.livejournal.com/1027.html
http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/01/14/farmers-urge-noynoy-to-reopen-mendiola-massacre-case/
Noynoy Hacienda Luisita- The Real Story-Part 1. Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D9v0-5EWaU&feature=player_embedded

Countering Jinggoy's 'Alternate' Endorsement of Gibby a.k.a. Gibo

(Repost of a pre-electoral article from Newsvine)

I AM voting Jinggoy Estrada for senator for two compelling reasons: (1) my appreciation of his manifested legislative competence, and (2) as an act of my support for his father Joseph Estrada who was unjustly victimized by the elite-maneuvered power grab of 2001. However, I express disgust over his apparent exhortation before a mammoth crowd to vote LAKAS candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. in case they're not inclined to vote Erap for President instead. Gibo, whose real nickname is "Gibby" by the way, may be a perfect picture of shallow qualifications but is a very poor choice in terms of patriotic executive service.


 Gibo Bio

The "official" LAKAS standard-bearer seems on the outset a powerhouse of competence, much helped by his "Galing at Talino" presidential campaign packaging. He graduated top of his law class at the University of the Philippines, being even awarded with the Dean's Medal of Academic Excellence. He then topped the bar in 1989 with a score of 86.185%. In 1997, he obtained his Master of Law degree from Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. "Very cool" and "very unassuming" he was in college and apparently even up to now.

After graduation until 2007, Teodoro Jr. served as Congressman for Tarlac's First District. He was apparently so good he even became the Assistant Majority Leader in the 11th Congress. He passed quite a number of bills. Very impressive intelligence and performance as solon. 'Matalino' indeed he is. 'Magaling' he also is based on his legislative record.

In August 2007, "President" Gloria Arroyo appointed him Secretary of National Defense, remaining in that position until the administration LAKAS party drafted him as its standard-bearer for the presidential race come May 10, 2010. It is the executive branch record of "Gibby" a.k.a. Gibo that I find disconcerting.

No one is perfect but, to my humble mind, the endorsement of Gibo by Jinggoy is rather sick. The least the former  DND Secretary should have done for his presidential race is declare loyalty to the country by showing independence from the Illegitimate President--something he adamantly refuses to do based on his ridiculous claim that he is bound to bestow loyalty to Arroyo as a way of observing  the Filipino value of utang na loob (sense/feeling of gratitude or indebtedness). Doesn't it sound crazy to hear loyalty being professed in a company of thieves, cheaters, liars and simply, masters of impunity?


Gloria's Impunity Deserves No "Utang na Loob" from Gibo

Lest anyone forget, Gloria Arroyo--the object of Gibo's 'loyalty' has marked a legacy of immoral governance unparalleled in the entire history of the Philippine Islands. In her nine-year reign, she has been variously called unpalatable terms that anyone with even an iota of another Filipino used-to-be-cherished value of delicadeza would have found extremely repugnant. The widow of Fernando Poe Jr., the real victor during the 2004 elections, alluded to her as liar and thief and called her power grabber" not once but twice." Her own man, former NEDA Executive Director and CHED Chair Romulo Neri supposedly described her as "evil, with another even calling her a "lucky b_tch."

In late 2007, she was adjudged the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History" during a nationwide survey. Lately, she's been described as responsible for greatly damaging the moral fiber of the nation. As the religious-clergy group Filipinos Sunday charged, Arroyo and her minions "lie and cheat with impunity," as ""No institution of our democratic system has been spared. No sector of society left unmolested. Long standing traditions have been violated."

Arroyo's also a constitutional violator, not limited to electoral fraud. Adding to her almost endless litany of corruption-laden deals was her entering into the multi-billion-peso Northrail Project without prior Monetary Board approval and the hugely scandalous-before=being-cancelled NBN-ZTE broadband project. Based from the 2005-2008 articles of unsuccessful impeachment proceedings, she also engaged in the misuse and abuse of presidential powers, including acts of the unconstitutional transfer of funds between government agencies, or from a government entity to political partisan projects.

Perhaps worst, from the perspective of human rights, is her conspiring and tolerating of extrajudicial killings that have victimized Filipinos from pretty much a broad spectrum of political colors. Even before the infamous Ampatuan massacre took place in late 2009, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines already described Arroyo's administration's legacy as one of "bloodshed and repression, its acts of omission and commission nurturing the impunity with which the enemies of press freedom have operated." As of 2009, the alternative media entity Bulatlat counts "more than 200 Filipinos--mostly activists--[who] have disappeared" under her reign. The most infamous of the desaparecido cases involve those of Jonas Burgos, son of Malaya founder and publisher, and University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

Disrespect with people's lives, unfortunately, did not stop with the activists and critics. The height of impunity would come by way of the heinous mass murder of 57 individuals, including some 31 journalists and 26 women, children and other relatives and friends of the Ampatuan's rival clan of Mangadudatus on November 23, 2009. The Ampatuan massacre perhaps best symbolizes the callous, fraudulent rule of Gloria as the killing en masse actually ties to the 2004 travesty of the democratic process.

As revealed by the "Hello Garci" wiretapped evidence of 2004 electoral fraud, Arroyo spoke with former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano over details of efforts to manipulate the outcome of the presidential race in her favor. Playing a critical role in the poll manipulation that deprived FPJ of his rightful place in Malacanang was the Ampatuan warlord clan of Maguindanao province. In the official vote tally, Arroyo's lead over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ)  in seven towns controlled by the Ampatuans had the incredible average ratio of 99.83% to 0.17%; in two towns, FPJ even got a near-impossible zero vote each, with all votes going to Arroyo.

To cut the long story short, why would any decent, morally upright, intelligent, be principled man feel indebted to a political creature like Arroyo--enough to swear unfaltering loyalty to the Illegitimate? If Teodoro Jr. were truly decent, really morally upright, and genuinely be principled, why does he feel he has to reciprocate his appointment as DND chief with unwavering loyalty undeterred by reports of Villar/Aquino as the incumbent's "secret candidate." Amidst Arroyo's wickedness, the utang na loob line definitely does not fly. Unless Gibo is wicked himself and secretly in on Arroyo's evil schemes.


Gibo's Culpability and Incompetence as DND Secretary

While it is true that Gibby alias Gibo joined Arroyo's government only in August 2007 and, therefore, he was not part and parcel of much of her reign of impunity, the official LAKAS standard bearer is not entirely free of culpability. The Ampatuan massacre, it should be noted, occurred in 2009, over two years after he assumed leadership of the Defense department. How is it that under his very nose, the Ampatuans managed to grow (or continued to grow) too powerful and confident enough to have the temerity to perpetuate such a heinous, big-scale crime?

Simplistic clan vendetta the massacre was not because no warlord would dare include 31 or so innocent media people in any mass killing--unless he is confident of political support from the national government. What is more, regional policemen were reportedly involved and that the mass grave was supposedly dug days before the mass murder. What was Gibo doing in all these--sleepin on the job? He might not be the chief of the Philippine National Police but with his military connections, he should have been aware somehow of the movements prior to the massacre.

In fact, beyond incompetence, Gibo could be liable for abetting and tolerating the abuses and crimes of the Ampatuans. Maguindanao's infamous warlord clan has long been well known to be operating a private army that includes deputized paramilitary members and have controlled the province and even the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The existence of private armies is directly the DND secretary's concern. While Arroyo probably nurtured Ampatuan's warlordism in 2004 or earlier as a way of securing guaranteed (translation: fraudulent) Maguindanao votes, Teodoro should have been able to address the problem pretty soon after getting the DND portfolio.

Obviously, Gibo failed to carry out his duties as defense secretary when the Ampatuans seemingly even became bolder when they committed the heinous Ampatuan massacre. Under the incompetent watch of the presidentiable who has built his campaign on the Galing at Talino slogan, the dreadful Maguindanao warlord clan utilized its paramilitary-powered private army to commit the worst crime ever wrought on journalists. According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, the Ampatuan massacre holds the record of having the greatest number of media people ever killed in a single day. .


Gibo's Ineptness as NDCC Chief

The Ampatuan massacre was not actually Gilbert Teodoro's first show of incompetence. Who among the less gullibles could really forget the ineptness of the National Disaster Coordinating Center, which he concurrently headed as DND chief, during the Ondoy typhoon tragedy last September 2009? How many lives could have been saved had the NDCC been prepared for such a contingency and acted more swiftly in its rescue efforts?

 Amidst the pleas for help, the cries of despair and drowning deaths of many, it was primarily the non-governmental entities, the media people in particular, who supplanted Gibo's missing hand when they set out to rescue and assist the affected Filipinos during the crucial initial hours of the flooding. The feeling of the Metro Manilans during those early hours of the Ondoy disaster was one of helplessness--spurred by the marked absence of government.

Teodoro defended the late government response to the flash floods by reasoning that the country only had 13 rubber boats at that time. So where did the $1.9 million emergency response official development assistance (ODA) and $6.6 million disaster preparedness allotment that Gloria's government received in 2007 go? The LAKAS presidentiable may arguably not have had a say in the nearly $1 million and reconstruction relief and rehabilitation funds the government got in 2006 but what of the huge assistance funds around the time he took office?

Is the lack of rubber boats a case of disastrous ignorant planning by Gibo's NDCC team? How is it that the entire government pitifully only had 13 rubber boats when three years ago, the government already recognized the dangers of climate change as evidenced by its creation of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC)? As quoted by Bulatlat.com, the PTFCC's creation was spurred by the recognition that the archipelago "is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects resulting from climate changes and has been experiencing unusual number of high-intensity typhoons that have wrought devastation and anguish to our people."

The need for more life boats in the face of the adverse impacts of climate change on our archipelagic country--is that so hard for Gibo to figure out? Or is it a case of misappropriation, if not corruption of funds sanctioned or even helped perpetuated by then-NDCC head Teodoro Jr.?

When Gibo's camp and his deluded partisans take pride in his Galing at Talino, it makes one wonder whether they're purely buying his campaign line. Did they even consider his entire track record in government service, which includes his performance in the executive branch under which the position he is aspiring for falls under? For the "silent" supporters of Gibo, it seems that his Galing at Talino packaging got the better of them such that they skipped the part on the former DND Secretary's gross ineptness in, if not culpability for, the Ondoy disaster and Ampatuan massacre.


Why Jinggoy's Endorsement

Instead of Gibo, perhaps Jinggoy should have recommended instead Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord Movement, or green advocate Nicky Perlas, or even outspoken and nationalist-inclined Jamby Madrigal? These three underestimated presidential contenders deserve more the coveted Malacanang position over that of Gibo in terms of being free of wicked Gloria's corruptive influence.

Then again, it is possible Jinggoy and Erap's camp is only wisely splitting the votes of strong rival presidential candidates Manny Villar and Noynoy Aquino to ensure the deposed President's victory in the polls? Besides, to endorse Bro. Eddie instead of Gibo may be unwise because despite what the mainstream conditioning surveys say, Bro. Eddie, with his command vote provided by his organized and several-million-strong religious group, seems to be already a silent force to reckon with.

Another possibility is that despite the supposed falling out between Gibo and his uncle Danding Cojuangco, the former could just be serving as a link of sorts to the latter's protracted friendship with President Erap. Didn't the former president remark in a television interview that one thing he misses during the current presidential campaign as compared to the 1998 campaign is the presence and support of Danding?

The presidency is not just about shallow qualifications. To echo columnist Herman Tiu Laurel's argument, the presidency is, above all, governance fueled by "love for the people and standing by a firm conviction." Ideally, a conviction marked by "strong belief in his own cause to risk and actually suffer detention for it." Erap has shown his conviction and lover for the Filipinos, the masa in particular but Gibo, with his unfaltering loyalty to Gloria and dismal performance as DND/NDCC chief, has not.

At any rate, whether Gibo showed incompetence and/or corruption in preventing or handling in the Ondoy flooding and Ampatuan massacre, or whether he deserves Jinggoy's endorsement or not,  it will not be good for the country to have another Cojuangco for president. Another Cojuangco--another member of an illustrado family, of Chinese variant though the family may be--being in a powerful position will represent not only the continued perpetration of political dynasties but, worse, continued elite control or influence on the reigns of power. During President Ferdinand Marcos' time, there was Gibo's first degree uncle, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco as influential crony. Then with Marcos's ouster came President Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino, Danding's cousin. These two Cojuangco branches continue to be influential and rather powerful up to now. Then again, Noynoy Aquino of the Liberal Party, Cory's son, is also a Cojuangco.

The Cojuangcos, especially the Danding branch may be friends with the Estradas, in particular Erap, the "Father of the Masses." Jinggoy's support of sorts for Gibo (as alternative to a vote for Erap), however, does not bid well for the masa and the Filipino people in general. In short, a Teodoro Jr.  could virtually spell another six years of the wicked Illegitimate's rule. No to Gibo please....

_________

References

The Media Under Arroyo: A Legacy of Bloodshed and Repression. July 2007. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Site. http://nujp.org/v4/2009/07/the-media-under-arroyo-a-legacy-of-bloodshed-and-repression/

Clergy group pushes united action for May polls. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/187687/clergy-group-pushes-united-action-for-may-polls

Neri described Arroyo as evil. http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=2142
Journalists revisit Ampatuan massacre site. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/12/09/09/journalists-revisit-ampatuan-massacre-site

After Ampatuan Massacre, 2009 a Record Year for Journalist Killings Worldwide. 18 Dec. 2009. http://www.pinoypress.net/2009/12/18/after-ampatuan-massacre-2009-a-record-year-for-journalist-killings-worldwide/

Herman Tiu Laurel. "Persuading the youth." The Daily Tribune. 19 March 2010. http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100319com5.html

Lopez, JP. "'Gloria is evil'." Malaya. 19 February 2008. http://www.malaya.com.ph/feb19/news1.htm
President Arroyo Committed Culpable Constitutional Violations On Three Counts, Pimentel Says. 8 February 2005. Senator 

Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel Site. http://www.nenepimentel.org/news/20050208_GMA.asp

Pulse Asia. Pulse Asia's October 2007 Special Report on Corruption-Related Issues. http://pulseasia.com.ph/pulseasia/story.asp?ID=628

Ibon Foundation. "Where Did Millions of Aid for Disaster Relief Go? Ibon Wants to Know." Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/where-did-millions-of-aid-for-disaster-relief-go-ibon-wants-to-know/

Padilla, Arnold. "Analysis: Beyond Ondoy and Climate Change, Blame Goes to Arroyo, Teodoro." Bulatlat.com. 2 October 2009. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/10/02/analysis-beyond-ondoy-and-climate-change-blame-goes-to-arroyo-teodoro/

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Photo Credits

CBS News.

Gibo image. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?pid=73413&op=2&o=global&view=global&subj=1422302947&id=100000877271966