Ex-mayor charged for slay of Batangas fiscal

BATANGAS, Philippines – In less than three days, charges of murder and illegal possession of firearm were filed against former Sta. Teresita town mayor Anna Marie Mendoza after she was tagged as the alleged mastermind in the killing of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Alexander Sandoval last Thursday.

Aside from Mendoza, charged in a special inquest proceedings held in Camp Miguel Malvar yesterday were her   husband Hermogenes “Gene” Mendoza, alleged hitmen Jason Guerrero Espejo and alias “Toks,” Richard Briones and two others.

The charges against the suspects were filed before the Prosecutors Jayvee Lawrence Bandong and Omar Cris Casimiro, both of the Department of Justice.

Present at the inquest proceedings were ex-mayor Mendoza and Espejo as authorities have yet to arrest the four other respondents.

Briones was charged as an accessory to the crime as he reportedly owns the motorcycle used by Espejo and alias “Toks” in committing the crime.

Mendoza was arrested by elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) during a search at their residence in Barangay Kalayaan, Sta. Teresita last Friday where an unlicensed caliber .45 pistol was recovered.

Mendoza was charged based on the extra-judicial confession of Espejo linking her and her husband to the killing of Sandoval.

The inquest proceeding suffered a slight delay as Mendoza demanded that she should be represented by a private lawyer.

When no private lawyer arrived, Ferdinand Aguirre, an official of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), represented Mendoza.

The prosecutors said the Public Attorneys Office (PAO) in Batangas have inhibited themselves from the case due to  conflict of interest.