Gov’t urged to compensate Mendiola massacre victims’ kin

MANILA, Philippines - Militants asked the administration yesterday to indemnify the families of farmers killed in the Mendiola massacre 26 years ago.

President Aquino “should bear in mind that his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, failed to deliver justice to massacred peasants who were clamoring for land reform,” read a joint statement by Anakpawis chairman Fernando Hicap and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas vice chairman Salvador France.

They said the government should not just compensate the victims’ families, but also distribute Hacienda Luisita and other vast tracts of land to the landless.

Hicap and France demanded a re-investigation of the Jan. 22, 1987 Mendiola massacre, during which Marines and policemen fired at 10,000 farmers marching towards Malacañang, killing 13 peasants and wounding 105 others.

The statement identified the 13 slain farmers as Danilo Arjona, Leopoldo Alonzo, Adelfa Aribe, Dionisio Bautista, Roberto Caylao, Vicente Campomanes, Ronilo Dumanico, Dante Evangelio, Angelito Gutierrez, Rodrigo Grampan, Bernabe Laquindanum, Sonny Boy Perez and Roberto Yumul.

The Kilusang Enero 22 (KE 22), comprised of relatives of the victims, had filed a lawsuit against top government officials and sought an indemnification of P6.5 million, but the Manila regional trial court dismissed the suit in 1988.

In the same year, the Supreme Court affirmed the RTC’s decision on grounds that the state is immune from suit. – Ding Cervantes, Rhodina Villanueva