By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Survivors of the Mendiola Massacre are left with bitter memories of that day 24 years ago, when soldiers and police fired their weapons at a group of protesting farmers. Their thirst for justice has kept them going in their continuing struggle for land.
Mendiola Massacre survivor Teresita Arjona, whose husband Danilo died with 12 others in the carnage, vividly remembers what happened that day 24 years ago. She is unlikely to ever forget, she says, because the reasons why they marched to Malacañang then are the same reasons why farmers continue to hold protests and rallies and why so many others have been killed.
Mendiola Massacre survivor Pedro Gonzalez knows by heart the crimes the governments that followed the Marcos dictatorship committed against the Filipino people. These, he says, make him remember what he is fighting for.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
To the Supreme Court, they sent a letter addressed to Chief Justice Renato Corona appealing for the speedy resolution of the Hacienda Luisita case. To the Justice department, it was a letter to secretary Leila de Lima seeking the reopening of the 24-year-old Mendiola Massacre case.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on proposals to amend the charter, legislators should heed the Filipino farmers’ demands for the repeal of Republic Act 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with ‘Reforms’ (CARPer)” -– Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
“Agrarian reform is the main content of the socio-economic reforms embodied in CASER,” the NDF’s Luis Jalandoni said, referring to the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms that is the second substantive agenda in the negotiations. “Through genuine agrarian reform, we shall break the land monopoly of a few big landlords and implement free land distribution to our landless farmers and everyone who is willing to till the land,” Jalandoni pointed out.”
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Big landowners in Negros Occidental have found another way to retain and re-concentrate the land in their hands: file criminal cases against peasants and farm workers.
By MARYA SALAMAT
More than a hundred peasants who attempted to hold their two-day vigil at the foot Don Chino Roces Bridge (formerly Mendiola Bridge), marking President Benigno Aquino III’s 100th day in power, were dispersed by police around 7:30 p.m. on October 6.
Slideshow: For Land and Justice
Members of Tanggol Magsasaka (Peasant Network for Land, Justice and Human Rights) and Freedom for Tomada (FFT) network urged Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to immediately review the cases of peasants detained in jails nationwide and order their immediate release.