“During that time, I was a daughter. Now, I’m a mother. However, the truth is, there is still no justice for the 13 martyrs. There is still no genuine land reform up to now. We continue to march to the streets to urge a department to implement genuine land reform,” Miriam Villanueva said in Filipino.
Victims’ families, peasant groups, and advocates gathered in a forum to honor the 13 slain farmers and call attention to the persistent landlessness, political dynasties, and rural poverty that continue to plague the Philippines.
“There is still no justice up until today. There is still no genuine land reform. Landlessness remains a fundamental problem for our Filipino farmers and no program addresses these problems.”
“Our commitment to lasting peace never ended. For the martyrs of Mendiola, we continue to assert peace talks [in different administrations] together with the KMP, and we acknowledge the recent breakthroughs in the Oslo Joint Statement, a sign for the resumption of peace talks.”
“Duterte can easily surpass the gruesome record of previous administrations in terms of peasant killings and massacres.”
“The situation of Filipino peasants when they marched from Central Luzon to Mendiola in 1987 remains unchanged, and even worse this 2021, especially with the rising cases of peasant massacres and mass killings under the Duterte administration.” – KMP
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said that administrations may have changed but not the conditions of majority of the Filipino. They belied claims of the so-called “Duterte legacy,” saying that farmers are being killed and many Filipinos are still in dire poverty.
In This Week on People’s History, Bulatlat remembers the gruesome massacre of 13 protesting farmers on Jan. 22, 1987. The killed farmers were among the more than 20,000 who marched to the historic bridge of Mendiola, a stone’s throw away from Malacanang, to press for a genuine agrarian reform program.
“Ang pagsasaka ay marangal na gawain, hindi po ito terorismo. Hindi po kami terorista.”
“We cannot allow Duterte to have his way and continue the massacre of farmers through political killings and burdensome economic policies.”
“All of us are hopeful that the Duterte administration will reopen the case.”