22 January, 1997 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre, when the Philippines Marine Corps murdered farm workers and peasants agitating for genuine land reform in the Philippines.
Every year, family members, activists and supporters commemorate the deaths of the people who were killed by the military of then-Secretary of National Defense Ramos under the government of then-president Corazon Aquino.
Ten years after the massacre, and having offered no relief to the Mendiola survivors or the victims' families, Ramos has moved up to the presidency of the Philippines and is continuing his reign of violence against the people. As one victim's relative said: "how can we expect justice when the perpetrators are now occupying high government positions? Not only were they not punished, they were even promoted."(1)
In Amerika, President Klinton portrays the Ramos dictatorship
as a friendly and democratic regime - building up the Philippines
as an emerging Asian tiger. But behind the mask of bourgeois democracy,
the u.s.-Ramos regime with u.s.-backing has repressed his own
people to provide the United Snakes and other imperialists with
access to superprofit extraction. MIM supports the Mendiola victims'
families' continuing struggle for indemnification, and seizes
on this commemoration to build public opinion against the U.S.-Ramos
regime's repressive tactics and denial of just agrarian reform
in the Philippines.
Commemorating the 1996 anniversary, a speaker for the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines--KMP) said, "the only difference [between the permanent martial law which Ramos inherited from his two predecessors and the current situation] is that the Ramos government has developed a cunning and subtle way to violate the rights of the people and get away with it by leveling it in the name of peace and development."
Ramos has had plenty of time and all the right connections to
learn how a comprador can use fascism to imperialism's best advantage.
Ramos knows that his cousin and late Filipino dictator Ferdinand
Marcos needed martial law to allow the comprador bourgeoisie to
exploit the masses. He has also seen how overt martial law inspires
mass protest, and he knows u.s. imperialism would prefer to see
a democratic facade rather than open draconian repression in its
colony. The anti-terrorist act as well as recent attacks against
Filipino activists show that Ramos is conducting martial law with
a makeover.(2)
22 January 1987, 500 heavily armed Philippines Marines fired at peasants from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. Organized by the KMP, 30,000 peasants were marching to the Malacaang Palace to seek an audience with then President Aquino. Prior to the march, the peasants had camped out at the gates of the Department of Agrarian Reforms(DAR) to pressure Aquino to implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program(CARP) - which she promised in her presidential campaign. Before the peasants could reach the Palace, the Marines killed 13 peasants, wounded 105 and arrested 15.(3)
As fascists attempting to cover their tracks often do, Aquino ordered the Commission on Human Rights(CHR) to investigate the massacre. The investigating committee was abolished even before it identified the murderers.(3)
It is no surprise that Aquino did not push for indictment of members
of the military, Aquino was a puppet of the military -- she staggered
around catering to the demands of the military so it would allow
her to retain her figurehead position. Making an order for investigation
merely bought the GRP time in their battle to disguise the contradictions
within Filipino society. In 1988, the murdered and wounded peasants'
families filed a lawsuit for reparations of 250,000 pesos for
the family of each murdered victim, and P50,000 for each person
wounded in the massacre. This plea was rejected, but each family
did receive P25,000 -- roughly $1,000 to cover up the military's
murderousness.
Shortly after the Mendiola Massacre, on 10 February, 1987, the 15th Infantry Battalion slaughtered 17 civilians, including elderly and small children in Lupao, Nueva Ecija. The Manila Chronicle defended the 15th Infantry by blaming the NPA for the slaughter. The newspaper claimed the slaughter only took place after the battalion had lost a soldier to an encounter with the NPA. Aside from the moral bankruptcy of murdering civilians to strike at the New People's Army, this explanation is not confirmed. The fascists often dream up encounters with the NPA so they can blame the revolutionaries for their own murderous actions.
In 1989, 24 soldiers involved in the Lupao brutality were acquitted for a supposed lack of evidence.(4) One woman who had lost her mother, father, two brothers and two sisters in the massacre said that the NPA is not the force which brings terror to her area. "To her, the military is the villain because 'they killed my family'."(4)
On 22 March, 1994, the families of the massacre victims formed
the Kilusang Enero Beinte Dos (January 22nd Movement-- KE22).
KE22 also includes families of other massacre victims -- families
of those killed in Lupao, and at Santa Maria in Bulacan on 13
December, 1991 (another instance of brutality against the people
for which the government blames the NPA). KE22 gathers documents
on murder cases involving the military. (1) The organization also
organizes resources for the victims' families who are struggling
to eke out a living.
The day before the Mendiola Massacre Aquino said in a speech, "No one can take away the lands you till - this is clear in the Charter." Her rhetoric was exposed as hypocrisy the following day. Additionally, as of 1996, only 19% of the land targeted for distribution had been given out and tenancy remains in at least 35% of all farms in the country.(5)
Unfulfilled promises of land reform combine with imperialist agreements, the latest versions of which are the new GATT, Structural Adjustment, APEC and Philippines 2000. Philippines 2000 export orientation forces farmers to convert traditional rice and corn farmland to farm things like asparagus and flowers to export to the First World. Farms producing for export receive government support while rice producing lands are crushed out of business because of competition with subsidized First World farmers.
Big landowners can exempt their land from CARP-mandated redistribution by converting their farmland to residential or industrial land. In 1994, 2,428 big landowners applied for land conversion and only 4% of the applications were rejected.(5) Big landlords also use congress-approved exemptions to avoid the CARP implementation. Republic Act 1778, passed by the landlord-dominated congress, exempts fishponds, prawn farms and livestock and poultry farms from CARP implementation and defers CARP implementation in commercial farms for another 10 years. As of September 1995, 56,220 hectares of commercial farms were approved for deferment and 27,732 hectares were exempted.(5)
Work with MIM and RAIL to increase propaganda work against the U.S.-Ramos regime. Get in touch with us through one of the addresses on page 2 of MIM Notes or our web site for information about January 22 rallies and other events in support of the just struggles of the Filipino people.
Notes:
1. Manila Times 22 January 1995 p.A2.
2. December 1996 Maoist Sojourner and MIM Notes 127, 128, and 129.
3. Today, 22 January 1995.
4. Manila Chronicle, 12 February 1996.
5. IBON Features, 22 January 1996.
Send $2 for a print copy of RAIL's pamphlet on the Philippines, or for further information contact: RAIL c/o MIM at P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576 or e-mail: mim@mim.org