Broken police, broken legal system broke hostage-taker?

(Conclusion)

MANILA, Philippines - Yet in his affidavit to answer the disbarment case that Mendoza later filed against him for the invalid certificate of non-forum shopping, Guinto said that the Ombudsman’s case against Mendoza “was a result of the decision of the Ombudsman, and not on the execution of a verification and certification of non-forum shopping.”

Last month, the high court transmitted Mendoza’s disbarment case against Guinto to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for investigation. 

Curious details

By Feb. 16, 2009, Deputy Ombudsman Gonzalez issued a five-page order dismissing Mendoza and his four co-accused. The five policemen responded with a motion for reconsideration, to appeal the implementation of their dismissal order. This was followed by Mendoza’s handwritten requests dated March 15 and 22, 2010 for the early resolution of the case.

Before the Ombudsman could act on his motion for reconsideration, however, the PNP decided to dismiss Mendoza and his co-accused from the service, capping over a year of their preventive suspension.

Curiously, while Gonzalez signed the decision to dismiss Mendoza on Feb. 16, 2009, it was not until May 21, 2009 that Orlando Casimiro, then the “Acting Ombudsman,” signed and approved it. The name of Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez appears on the document, but it does not bear her signature.

Then last Sept. 7, and even while she seemed to have had no participation in the case, Gutierrez signed the decision to finally deny the motion for reconsideration that Mendoza had filed 10 months earlier. 

But the most unusual detail of all had come two weeks earlier, on Aug. 23, the day of the hostage-taking.

That was when Police Supt. Leocadio Santiago Jr., then director of the National Capital Region Police Office, signed this one-paragraph document: “Order implementing the decision of the OMBUDSMAN dated February 16, 2009 in OMB P-A-08-0670-H for Grave Misconduct ordering the Dismissal from the Police Service of PINSP ROLANDO DEL ROSARIO MENDOZA 0-14453 is hereby held in abeyance pending the resolution of his appeal/petition.”

Santiago had signed it to appease Mendoza, who was still holding several Hong Kong tourists hostage and insisting on his sole demand: the early resolution of his case before the Ombudsman.

Earlier that day, Mendoza had even plastered a crudely made sign on the door and front window of the bus: “Big mistake to correct big wrong decision: OMB P-A-08-0670-H.”

Manila Mayor Lim, however, did not like Santiago’s idea at all. And so, while signed and sealed, the order was not delivered.

Minutes later, a firefight broke between Mendoza and the police.