Twenty seven years ago on January 22, 1987, 10,000-15,000 marching farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita and land reform advocates were met with bullets as they bravely wagered for land, labor, and life. This fatal encounter, now known as the Mendiola Massacre, between farmworkers and the state is a scandalous event that instantly killed 13 protesters, the same event that made a premature break with the new regime’s professed democratic restoration after the dark years of Martial Law.