Mendoza Was a Rogue Cop- feared by students

Shuddering pangs of fear and apprehension has been gripping a segment of the student population in Manila, all thanks to the deceased police officer Rolando Mendoza and some of his colleagues.

So palpable is the fear in fact that the information in this report is shared only on condition of anonymity not only of the actual source but also the friends of the source who passed the information on to me. I am filing this report nevertheless because the information contained herein can be verified with Manila police and city officials as well as the office of the Ombudsman.

Here’s the story:

One balmy night in 2008 a student drove to his school location to return a small office instrument by dropping it off at the school’s lobby. He found a parking space in an open, unoccupied lot right beside the school campus. Upon his return he found several policemen hovering over his car.

The “leader” of the police contingent, later identified as Rolando Mendoza, accused the student of “illegal” parking. When he queried how the policemen could say he was parked illegally since there was a car parked in front of his, as well as another car parked in the back of it.

“Uy pilosopo ka pala” (Oh, so you are an argumentative type) Mendoza said, and forthwith ordered him to open his car’s trunk. Mendoza immediately threw in a small packet into the trunk, which he then established as marijuana and pills in the possession of the student.

There was a crowd that had gathered at this point and the student, hopeful that the presence of witnesses would deter the policemen from any further action, shouted to the crowd, “kita ninyo na nilagay”( you saw that he planted it).

Mendoza then shouted at the crowd in a louder voice, “ Sino and nakakita?”
(Who witnessed this?) at which point the crowd, fearing the angered policemen could turn on them, meekly dispersed.

He then instructed the student to get on the driver’s seat. As he sat, Mendoza then used the seat belt to choke the student’s neck, pulled his head back by grabbing his hair making the student gasp for breath and at which point one of the other policemen shoved shabu down his throat.

“O, yan may shabu sa sistema mo, “ Mendoza said. At this point the police group got in the car and instructed to student to produce his ATM card. They drove to the nearest bank ATM outlet and withdrew an undisclosed amount from the account. This transaction was caught on the bank’s security cameras.

They then drove to the precinct at which point Mendoza reportedly instructed the student to call whoever he could to get them the amount of money they wanted. The student called his father, then travelling and out in the provinces, and handed the phone to Mendoza. The latter demanded that the father give him 200,000 pesos that night as his son was in jail for possession and use of illegal drugs. The father said he did not have access to that amount of money. Ultimately one of the friends that the student had contacted brought over 20,000 pesos in cash and with this the policemen let the student go.

As the story goes, Mayor Lim, travelling in San Francisco, California learned of this incident as one of the people in the audience he was addressing at the time read aloud a report written by one of the student’s classmates describing the incident. Needless to say the Manila mayor was flushed with embarrassment at this report and upon his return to Manila reportedly sacked the entire group and Mendoza was reportedly transferred to Mindanao.

The Ombudsman then investigated the incident, obtained details and used the bank security film to convict Mendoza resulting in the latter’s removal from his post.

The student has expressed a desire to leave the incident behind. He learned from others that at least 5 other students of the same school were similarly victimized by this group of police officers. When asked by a tv reporter to comment on the aborted hijacking that led to the death of Mendoza, the student reportedly said that as he had nothing good to say about the deceased officer and preferred to remain silent.

Reporter’s Comment:
So fearful are large segments of the Philippine population of the police and military establishments that only people outside the country can feel safe reporting stories like this one.
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