PNoy shows shades of Arroyo in Mendiola arrests – PCPR

The violent dispersal of farmers camped out at the foot of Mendiola Bridge near Malacañang Saturday could mean that President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III might be showing shades of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a religious group alleged Sunday. The Promotion of Church Peoples’ Response said that the farmers only wanted to press the new government for genuine land reform. “The incident shows the constant policy of the state in bearing complaining citizens. The same atrocities and violence had been the method of the Arroyo administration to silence her critics," the PCPR alleged in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. At least 40 protesters were arrested on Saturday afternoon after they were dispersed at the foot of the bridge, also called the Chino Roces Bridge in Manila, police said. They would be charged with obstruction. Among those dispersed were farmers from Hacienda Yulo in Laguna and the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, owned by the Cojuangco clan of which Aquino is a member. The church group also called PCPR said the Manila city engineering department and city police “brutally harassed and dispersed" the peaceful demonstration and arrested 38 farmers and four of their supporters. Some 13 people were also injured in the incident, the group added. The PCPR claimed this was an early “revelation" of the Aquino administration, barely a week in power. “It has paraded its harshness and lack of concern for the peasants’ plight. While the ‘wang-wang’ issue has been addressed, the issue of land reform must be considered as an urgent agendum because it is a matter of life and death for the Filipino people. The PCPR joins different sectors in denouncing violence against the toiling masses, and calls on the faithful to work for justice and peace for our nation," the PCPR said. Saturday’s incident came 23 years after the Mendiola massacre where several farmers were killed and others injured when police dispersed the rally on land reform also on Mendiola Bridge. —Jerrie Abella/VS, GMANews.TV