Kalye Mendiola - Heritage Values and Collective Memory

To give a meaning on heritage, be it buildings, sites, landscapes or intangible  heritage, a kind of value must be placed. Heritage values refers to this, it refers to the  values that a group of people bestow on heritage.^[1] And this kind of value is what  legitimizes heritage. In essence, the people decide what is a heritage or not, it is the  masses who defines what should be considered as a heritage. A collective consciousness  determines what gets to be a heritage, for it is the masses who are the makers of history. ^[2]importance of the street and its role in the history  of the Philippines as an important avenue for protests and demonstrations during the Marcos regime and up to the contemporary times.

During the Marcos Regime, Kalye Mendiola was the site of the Battle of Mendiola  Bridge, a confrontation between 10,000 student-activists and the Metropolitan Command  (Metrocom). It was on January 26, 1970 or during the “First Quarter Storm” when the  protests and demonstrations rapidly began. It was followed by mass protests near the  Malacañang Palace on Jan. 30 and 31. It was joined by thousands of students and  workers. A violent dispersal took place, which ultimately killed four students namely:  Felicisimo Roldan of San Beda College, Ricardo Alcantara of University of the Philippines,  Fernando Catabay of Manuel L. Quezon University, Bernardo Tausa of Mapa High  School.^[3] On January 22 1987, the infamous Mendiola Massacre transpired at Kalye  Mendiola. It is also known as the Black Thursday to some Filipino journalists. Then  president Corazon Aquino failed to tackle and address the problems of the agrarian sector  of the country. Promised land reforms and agrarian justice to farmers who suffered during  the Marcos regime failed to be compensated during Aquino’s term. The Kilusang  Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, A militant farmers’ organization demanded real agrarian reforms  and plans from the Aquino government.^[4] The materialization of almost 10,000 farmers to protest at Mendiola were met with a violent dispersal where 13 were killed and  a hundred injured. It can be said that Mendiola served as the venue or site for protests and  demonstration. Its strategic location being near to Malacañang Palace and its proximity  to other barangays in Manila.

SIGNIFICANCE IN THE COMMUNITY

It can be said that the history of the street is being re-lived by the continuous protest  and demonstrations that continues to transpire throughout Mendiola. The street itself serves as a  reminder to the grievances of the working class people of the Philippines. Kalye Mendiola  became a space for voicing out complaints and thus transformed into a public space for  speaking up. It is as if a street has a collective memory of those who protested against the government that is repressive to its citizen, the site lend themselves to certain practices in everyday life;  coincidentally it also provide distinct milieus for the mobilization of some kind of collective  memory, including appropriation of previous rounds of struggle.^[5] The everyday Filipino people came to  think of Mendiola as ‘the’ place for struggle, the image of struggle painted Mendiola.  Mendiola, then became a place of outcry; the many protests and picket lines, the  countless effigies burned, the violent dispersals, the thought provoking protest art splattered in the asphalt and barriers, all of these are ingrained in the minds of the Filipino masses. Kalye Mendiola does not need a marker for it to be considered as a historical/heritage site, the community in the area acknowledges the significance of the street, it is as if the  street is talking when chants about sahod itaas, presyo ibaba are being shouted by the  activists, the residents in Kalye Mendiola resonates with this clearly, for them the voice of  the oppressed became one with the street itself.
As Kalye Mendiola is comprised with routes and roads with the highest  concentration of students, labor, and urban poor populations that are not only to be found  in Manila but also in the entire Metro Manila, and anywhere in the Philippines the  demonstration and protests held in Mendiola also provided occasions for the recollection of something other than the practices of everyday life in this social milieu.^[6] The waves of  protests in the area does not only point towards the everyday experience in the metro  (heavy traffic, crowded places) or the official commemoration (historical sites,  monuments) that which of describes and characterizes urban sites that disclose a peek  of the many different forms of sociality and politics that are deeply implanted in these  spaces.^[7] Thus in essence, rallies and protest function as a bridge to reconnect the dots  on a larger map of prior rounds of struggle, it can be described as if recovering, through  a kind of spatial reconstruction^[8] , and as Kalye Mendiola was described earlier, not only  the collective memory resides in Mendiola but all throughout the country.

PRESERVATION

As the site is a place for protest, various protest art,  spray-paint tags, and what some might call “vandalism” is  ever present in the area. The question of vandalism now comes into place. If a site is considered a heritage, then it must be protected, it must be preserved. In the case of  
Kalye Mendiola, various examples of “vandalism” are ever present, and more likely to be done during a protest. But,  considering the history of the site, does vandalism in the monuments in Mendiola constitutes for preservation of the site? It is important to note and to highlight the 
background of a heritage so as to know how it may be preserved, as preservation means to conserve and to maintain; as different heritage calls for different type of preservation. In the case of Mendiola, the monument of Chino  Roces was made for the farmer who died during the Mendiola  Massacre. The monument was erected for the countless activists, workers, farmers that have been slain by the government, just for  their acts of activism. And up to now, justice to those who were slain  protesting for land reforms, land distribution, and wage increase has  yet to be served upon their deaths. All those farmers who are  protesting still yet to be given land, land which are owned by elite  landlords, workers have yet to receive the fruits of their labor. The  very reason the monument is built, the fight of those who are the reason the monument  is erected, have yet to be finished. All the “vandalism” did was to continue the calls, to  continue the fight. Vandalism may provoke and elicit angry responses, but in doing so it further amplifies the genuine message behind the images and signs. If the reason is it makes the site  dirty and unclean, then it only validates the purpose of the site. Urban aesthetics may  be good and all, but with all the blood of the masses that were spilled on the street, a much needed shift in the view regarding preservation must be done. Protest art not only validates the  purpose of the site, but it also relive the history of the place. Paint can be easily washed off, but the blood of those who are slain by the oppressive government will continue to  stain the streets.