The Mendiola massacre was an incident that took place in Mendiola Street, San Miguel, Manila, Philippines on January 22, 1987, in which state security forces under President Corazon Aquino violently dispersed a farmers' march to Malacañang Palace in protest for the lack of government action on land reform.
Calls for just and comprehensive land reforms to President Aquino were unheeded. The turbulent turn of events sparked rallies and demonstrations taken part by farmers, workers, and students protesting the injustice. According to reports of survivors, riot personnel disguised as civilians opened fire on unarmed protesters killing at least 12 and injuring 51 protesters.
Background
Corazon Aquino's election to the presidency brought about the prospects of rebuilding the formal institutions of democracy and the fundamentals of the Philippine economy. Conflicts with secessionist groups in Mindanao, ballooning national debts, and severe economic inequality plagued the newly-installed administration.
One such severe manifestation of the economic inequality can be seen in the agrarian problems of the Philippines at that time. Promised land reforms during the Marcos regime failed to bring agrarian justice to the farmers. Instead, Marcos' cronies and oligarchs perpetuated the abuse of farmers and peasants. The newly raised administration acted as a fresh opportunity for minorities to supplicate their respective grievances. The farmers pushed the new government amendments in the agrarian law. However, their representatives were told by Minister Heherson Alvarez to wait for the finalization of the new Philippine Constitution and the new Congress, which made the farmers suspicious of this indecisiveness. Furthermore, the new Congress that would supposedly make the laws that will carry out the reforms was dominated by the landlords.
Aquino's EO 229 failed to address the root of agrarian problems of the country, disappointing the farmers and causing them to protest against the administration.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), a militant farmers' group led by Jaime Tadeo, demanded genuine agrarian reform from the Aquino government. On January 15, 1987, KMP members encamped at the Ministry of Agrarian Reform (now the Department of Agrarian Reform) in Diliman, Quezon City. The group presented their problems and demands: give land for free to farmers, end the retention of lands by landlords, and halt the amortizations of land payments. Dialogue between the farmers, represented by Jaime Tadeo, and the government, represented by Agrarian Reform Minister Heherson Alvarez, took place on January 20, 1987. Alvarez promised to bring the matter to the President's attention during the next day's cabinet meeting.
The response of the administration toward the protests, particularly in the Mendiola incident, was a violent dispersal. Whether or not it was a deliberate action or a miscommunicated order, the Mendiola incident showed that there were people who were dissatisfied with the self-preserving oligarchs-legislators who backed Aquino's administration. The violent dispersal became a tipping point for key anti-government groups such as the National Democratic Front (NDF), the main communist coalition at the time to defer from peace talks with the new government, ending hopes for reconciliation for agrarian reforms.
March to Malacañang
On January 22, 1987, the farmers decided to march to Malacañang Palace in order to air their needs instead of having the chance to negotiate with Heherson Alvarez. Marching from the Quezon Memorial Circle, Tadeo's group was joined by members of other militant groups: Kilusang Mayo Uno (May One Movement), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance), League of Filipino Students and Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (Unity Congress of the Urban Poor). At 1:00 in the afternoon, the marchers reached Liwasang Bonifacio and held a brief presentation. At around the same time, anti-riot personnel under the command of 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 Chief Brig. Gen. Alfredo Lim were deployed around the vicinity of Malacañang.