Mendiola Street

Coordinates: 14°35′55″N 120°59′30″E / 14.59861°N 120.99167°E / 14.59861; 120.99167

Mendiola Street

A street sign at the north side of Mendiola corner Concepcion Aguila Streets.
Length 0.5 km (0.3 mi)
From Intersection of Legarda Street and Recto Avenue in San Miguel, Manila
To Jose Laurel Street in San Miguel, Manila

Mendiola Street is a short thoroughfare in San Miguel, Manila, Philippines. The street is named after Enrique Mendiola, an educator, textbook author and member of the first Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines. As a street close to Malacañang Palace, the President of the Philippines' official residence, it has been the site of numerous and sometimes bloody demonstrations.

On the north end of the street is the Chino Roces Bridge, named in honor of Chino Roces, a well-known figure during the Philippines' Martial Law years. (An illuminated street sign above the intersection of Recto and Mendiola erroneously refers to the latter street as Chino Roces Avenue).

Mendiola Street starts at the intersection of Legarda Street and Claro M. Recto Avenue and ends at José P. Laurel Street, just outside Malacañang Palace. Four colleges and universities which forms a part of the University Belt are in Mendiola Street.

To protect Malacañang Palace, the part of Mendiola Street that starts at the sentinel gate in front of the College of the Holy Spirit and La Consolacion College Manila is closed to vehicles. Vehicles are diverted to Concepcion Aguila Street, a narrow side street that passes through residential areas of San Miguel district.

Protests

Mendiola Street has frequently been the site of often violent confrontations between protesters and government troops protecting Malacañang Palace:

1970

During the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, Mendiola Street was the site of the "Battle of Malacañang" or "The Battle of Mendiola Bridge", a confrontation between student demonstrators and police forces that occurred on January 30, 1970. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of four student demonstrators.

1987

On January 22, 1987, crowd control troops opened fire on a protest rally of about 10,000 peasant farmers demanding "genuine" land reform from then-President Corazon Aquino. Thirteen of the protesters were killed and hundreds were injured in the incident now known as the Mendiola massacre.

2001

On May 1, 2001, supporters of President Joseph Estrada, angered by his arrest following his ouster from power earlier that year, marched to Mendiola Street after staging demonstrations outside the EDSA Shrine. They demanded the release of Estrada. A violent confrontation ensued between Estrada's supporters and members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who were then tasked by the new President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to secure Malacañang Palace and the areas surrounding it. Mendiola Street and the vicinity around Malacañang Palace became a front line after the protesters tried to storm the Palace. Casualties were high on both the Estrada supporters' and government troops' end. As a result of the looting of stores and shops and the burning of several government and private vehicles by the protesters, damage to and loss of property along Mendiola Street and areas within the vicinity of Malacañang Palace was estimated to in millions of pesos. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency to stifle the rioting; it was lifted after two days.

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