Task force, NBI to probe ex-Batangas lawmaker’s slay

BATANGAS , Philippines — A task force was created yesterday to investigate the killing of former Batangas lawmaker Edgar Mendoza and his two companions whose bodies were found in a burned vehicle in Tiaong, Quezon on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a parallel probe and file charges against the perpetrators.

Guevarra said NBI Director Dante Gierran should submit a report on the progress of the investigation within 30 days.

Brig. Gen. Vicente Danao, Calabarzon police director, said Col. Rudolph Dimas, deputy regional director for operations, and Col. Audie Madrideo, Quezon police director, would head the task force with personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Quezon, Batangas and Tiaong police,  Quezon-Batangas intelligence units and Quezon Highway Patrol Group as members.

Grudge, work-related

Danao said the motive for the killing could be a grudge or work-related.

“Meron siyang hina-handle na kaso katulad ng isang nakakulong daw sa Bilibid... Nung papunta siya sa Tiaong, he was lawyering regarding a real estate case. Yun ang possible motives,” Danao told The STAR.

He said probers have not identified any person of interest.

Police are looking into the person Mendoza was supposed to meet in Calamba, Laguna, as he had told his family members when he left his home in Batangas City on Wednesday.

The charred remains of Mendoza and two others believed to be his driver Ruel Ruiz and bodyguard Nicanor, also surnamed Mendoza, were found on the backseats of a burned vehicle on a bridge in Barangay San Francisco.

Maj. Lawrence Panganiban, Tiaong police chief, said DNA samples from the bodies of the victims were brought to the crime laboratory to confirm their identities. The results are expected within one week.

Panganiban said the victims could have been killed elsewhere and dumped in Tiaong to mislead investigators.

Kin seek justice

In a post on Facebook, the family of the former congressman appealed for justice for the victims.

“We ask for everyone’s prayers that his soul rest in peace together with Nick and Ruel, who stood by him until the end and that justice be accorded to all of them,” the post read.

Francisco Lirio, chairman of Batangas Forum, urged the police and NBI to ensure the immediate arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Mendoza, 68, served as Batangas regional trial court judge and commissioner of the then Bureau of Immigration and Deportation in the 90s. He was  elected congressman in 1998. – With Arnell Ozaeta, Robertzon Ramirez, Romina Cabrera