Mollenido, son laid to rest

MANILA, Philippines —  Slain policewoman Diane Marie Mollenido and her eight-year-old son, John Ysmael, were laid to rest in Taguig City yesterday.

Both the memorial mass at Camp Bagong Diwa and the inurnment ceremony at The Heritage Park were off-limits to media.

Police sent off Mollenido with a 21-gun salute. She had served the Philippine National Police since 2009, based on a Facebook livestream of one of the relatives.

Her husband, Senior M/Sgt. John Mollenido, received the Philippine flag, but he did not speak during the burial ceremony.

Police said he remains a person of interest and may face charges of obstruction of justice for quickly allowing the cremation of his estranged wife and son.

Mollenido, 38, and her son were killed in Barangay San Agustin, Quezon City on Jan. 16, allegedly at the house of her godchild, car agent Pia Katrina Panganiban, over a vehicle sale that turned out to be swindling.

Authorities accused Panganiban’s husband, dismissed patrolman Christian Panganiban, of pulling the trigger.

Together with a helper and a relative, the Panganiban couple allegedly dumped Mollenido’s body in Bulacan and John Ysmael’s in Tarlac.

The Quezon City Police District released closed-circuit television footage of the Panganibans with their three children, checking in at a hotel in Baguio City after supposedly disposing of the bodies.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla has described the couple as “psychopathic.”

The policewoman was last assigned with the regional personnel and records management section of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Her husband, who works at the NCRPO’s regional personnel holding and accounting section, is under restrictive custody.