Mendiola: A Road to Freedom and Justice

Today’s Labour Day in the Philippines. A public holiday celebrating or commemorating the importance of the workers and the day wherein freedom to express opinions about wages, working conditions, economy, society and the like are most tackled about. Yet there is one road in Manila that has been synonymous to Labour Day, activism, civic rights groups, protests and even the phrase “struggle for freedom and justice”—that is Mendiola. Headlines parati yan (that street is always on headlines).

View Larger MapMendiola is a street that originates from Recto Avenue-Legarda Intersection which stretches all the way to the opulent San Miguel district of Manila. The entrance is surrounded by Centro Escolar University and San Beda College. Yet what is it in Mendiola that a lot of would like to reach? Very simple-it is the main gateway to the Presidential Palace of Malacanang, which is less than a kilometer away. The street name was named after Enrique Mendiola, an educator during the early part of the 20^th century Philippines.

Heavily guarded and barb wired, Mendiola for the activists and protestors is a symbol of struggle against oppression and society’s ills. It is here where it is believed that they’ll be heard by the government whose mandate is supposed to protect the basic rights of every Filipino citizen, or the struggle for a change in the system begins.

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