Did a broken system
break hostage-taker?

Part 2 of our report looks further into the unsettled issues that had been raised by the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on the circumstances that led to the hostage-taking incident last August 23.

Few would dispute that there is no justification for what Police Senior Inspector Rolando D. Mendoza did – break the law and cause willful damage to lives and property, and to the reputation of the police and the nation.

Before the incident, however, there was this story of a citizen, Christian M. Kalaw, who summoned the courage to file suit against the five policemen who he said did him wrong.

Before the incident, too, there was the story of Mendoza, a policeman of 30 years with as many medals, citations and awards. He received his last one in November 2009 together with 11 other policemen – a “Medalya ng Papuri” or PNP Commendation Medal “for exemplary efficiency and devotion to duty displayed during the security operations” at the wake and burial of democracy icon, President Corazon C. Aquino, in August 2009.

Mendoza would have retired on Jan. 10, 2011 when he was to turn 56 years old, and could have been entitled to about P5 million in retirement money.

Twice, he had been cleared of Christian’s charges – in a criminal case dismissed by the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office and in an administrative case dismissed by the police’s regional Internal Affairs Service.

Indeed, while the mishandling of the hostage-taking incident reeked of Keystone Kops, the incident had clearly fed on the country’s Keystone court system, which can push even former law enforcers to commit grave violations of the law.

Former and current police officials – in all irony most probably echoing the sentiments of Christian Kalaw – tell the PCIJ that they dread being caught in disciplinary and legal cases because the legal system is not something they would associate with justice. By many accounts, this is the reason why some policemen in conflict with the law try to, and think they could, tip the scales of justice in their favor by throwing in some lucre.