By RAIL and SLALA comrades.
A new video on the 1987 Mendiola Massacre in the Philippines headlined a February 10 forum on the Present Peace and Human Rights Situation in the Philippines. The video included testimony from veteran activists and survivors of the Mendiola Massacre. There were also youth performances showing the effects of landlessness caused by the government's drive to satisfy big imperialists by forcibly converting farmland into cash crops and golf courses.
A speaker introducing the film explained how the Manila government has been violently opposing the demands of Filipinos since the 1970s, when it opened fire on students protesting dictator Marcos' changes to the constitution to extend his stay in power. This was the first Mendiola massacre. The film showed how the Manila government once again spilled Filipino blood near the Mendiola bridge in 1987 when 30,000 peasants, students and workers marched to the Presidential Palace to demand that the u.$.-Aquino regime implement its promises for land reform. Hundreds of police and Philippine marines stopped the protestors near the Mendiola Bridge and then fired upon them for more than a minute. The police and marines shot many of the demonstrators in the back or in the head, killing 13 and wounding 105. To this day, victims and survivors have not received any apology or restitution for the murders.
The film documents disturbing aspects of the history of u.$.-backed puppet regimes in the Philippines that fly in the face of the tale spun by the u.$., that u.$.-backed "Corey" Aquino was a step towards democracy. In reality the 1987 Mendiola Massacre triggered the cancellation of the peace negotiations and the 60-day cease-fire between the Manila government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Shortly thereafter the u.$.-Aquino regime dropped any pretenses at peacemaking and declared "total war" against the people.
The u.$. imperialists also claim the current u.$.-Arroyo regime is "democratic," yet it continues the anti-people legacy of the Mendiola Massacre. This is especially true following Macapagal-Arroyo's complete collaboration with the u.$.-led "war on terrorism". Last year under the pretext of helping her puppet regime fight the Abu Sayaaf gangsters, Macapagal-Arroyo approved the landing of U.$. troops in southern Mindanao to participate in so-called "military exercises." (2) Recently Macapagal-Arroyo took her toadying up a notch and allowed 3000 u.$. troops to carry out direct combat operations.(3) Public outcry forced her to renege on this decision and "renegotiate" terms with the Pentagon (see story in MIM Notes 278).
This incursion coincides with the u.$.-Arroyo regime's total cancellation of peace negotiations with the revolutionary forces in the Philippines. It is very probable that u.$. troops will participate in operations against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New People's Army led by the Communist Party of the Philippines. The u.$. has labeled these groups "terrorist" despite their prior peace negotiations with the Manila government. A requirement for the resumption of peace negotiations is the removal of the "terrorist" label on Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines. (4)
In a discussion following the film, a veteran organizer named Carol Almeda said that the murder of peasants and students demanding genuine social change shows that the imperialist-landlord dominated state doesn't serve the interest of the people and is actually their enemy. She described how 70% of Filipino lawmakers are landlords and the remaining 30% are representatives of imperialist multinational corporations. Despite two popular uprisings and the removal of Marcos and Estrada there has been no change in the economic rights of the masses of Filipinos because the economic policies of Aquino and Macapagal-Arroyo are the same as those of Marcos, Ramos and Estrada: each is driven to suppress the domestic economy by foreign imperialist investment. For example, she described an arrangement orchestrated by Macapagal-Arroyo that prohibits Filipino farmers from growing rice but requires the Philippines to import rice and sell it domestically at higher prices. Almeda blasted imperialist-inspired "agricultural conversions" as well as programs that destroy the development of the industrial sector of the economy and displace thousands to peddle goods on the streets.
A general theme in the discussion was that the massacre at Mendiola is only one of the many instances of state violence against the people. RAIL thinks that removing the "terrorist" label from Prof. Jose Ma. Sison and resuming peace negotiations is an essential step towards democracy in a region where only national liberation and genuine land reform can put an end to landlessness and state sponsored violence.
Notes:
1. MIM Notes 132, 15 February 1997.
2. Associated Press. January 23, 2002.
3. Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2003. P. A1.
4. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/philippines/index.html