Farmers seek reinvestigation into 1987 Mendiola massacre

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday said farmers' groups have requested her office to conduct a reinvestigation into the so-called Mendiola massacre, a violent dispersal 24 years ago where 13 protesters demanding land reform were killed. In an interview with reporters, De Lima said that she will refer the farmers' request to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) newly-formed task force on extrajudicial killings. "I remember a letter I received a few days ago seeking for reinveisgation. My initial action on that is to refer that to the special task force on extra-legal killing," De Lima. De Lima added that it will be up to the task force to assess if the massacre in 1987 warrants a reinvestigation.

Farmers' groups commemorated the 24th year after the massacre. The farmers picketed near the Supreme Court to submit a letter to Chief Justice Renato Corona. The rally is ongoing as of posting time. Mendiola massacre In 1986, Corazon Aquino ran for president against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Land reform was among the pillars of her campaign. She likewise promised to give “land to the tiller" and to subject Hacienda Luisita to land reform. Cory Aquino is the mother of incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. She died in August 2009 due to colon cancer. Hacienda Luisita is a 6,453-hectare sugar estate in Tarlac owned by the Cojuangcos, the paternal side of Cory's family. In February 1986, Marcos fell from grace, catapulting Cory Aquino to power. On January 22, 1987, eleven months into her presidency, thousands of disgruntled protesters marched to Malacañang Palace to call for distribution of land at no cost to farmer beneficiaries. The protest action ended violently, with 13 of the protesters killed. – VVP, GMANews.TV