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Irene Jay Liu

August 23 was the day Rolando Mendoza stopped waiting. 
It had been more than two years since the decorated police captain was first accused of extortion, robbery and assault. 
It had also been 18 months since he was dismissed from the police force, nine months since he had filed a Motion for Reconsideration, and five months since he had written three letters to the Ombudsman pleading for an answer. 
Mendoza should have heard back about his motion in five days, but months later there was still no word. 
He was a desperate man.
On August 23, Mendoza stepped onto the Hong Thai tour bus and took matters into his own hands, an extreme final act that would see him die along with eight innocent Hong Kong people. As of yesterday, one survivor, Jason Leung Song-xue was still being treated for severe head injuries but another, Joe Chan Kwok-chu, was  discharged from Prince of Wales Hospital after surgery on hand injuries. A spokesman said he was in stable condition but still needed to see doctors regularly. Chan thanked the government and medical staff, and said he 'was moved by the social unity shown in this incident'.
That unity is in contrast to the divide in the Philippines over whether Mendoza is villain or victim. To some, he exemplifies the worst of a corrupt police force and his hostage-taking was the final act of wrongdoing. To others, Mendoza is a victim of an unfair justice system that only protects the interests of the elite.  
Human rights lawyer Harry Roque, who has sued the police in a number of high-profile cases, said corruption was rampant among police. In Mindanao  province, for example, recruitment into the Philippine National Police  was on a 'three-for-one' basis, he said - three recruits for one million pesos (HK$176,000). 'If you have to buy your position, your object is not to discharge your functions, but to recover your investment,' Roque said.  
Mendoza's fall from decorated police officer started with an e-mail. 
On April 12, 2008, a man named Bob Kalaw  wrote to a few friends and former classmates, warning of a rogue unit of policemen that had terrorised his son Christian  three days earlier. The e-mail told how  after stopping Christian on a traffic violation, police stole his money, beat him and forced him to swallow the drug shabu, or crystal meth. The police threatened to file drug charges against Christian if he didn't pay 200,000 pesos, according to Kalaw. 
The e-mail  went viral and became a rallying point in the fight against police corruption. 'It became an informal advocacy,' Didi Guanzon- Lucindo, the de facto spokeswoman for the Kalaws, said.  The e-mail found its way to Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim  and high-level PNP officials and a month later, they contacted Lucindo, seeking her help to find the Kalaws. 
The investigation had barely begun and authorities were already updating Lucindo on the penalties they were imposing. 
On May 14, Police Superintendent Eleazar Pepito Matta  e-mailed Lucindo, informing her that his office had received orders to conduct an investigation and had already administratively sanctioned the accused police officers, transferring them to another unit. 
A week later, Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices Emilio Gonzalez  called Lucindo, urging the Kalaws to file criminal charges with the Office of the Ombudsman,  a separate anti-graft organisation.
On May 23, Christian Kalaw filed a sworn affidavit with the Manila police. In his complaint he accused two officers  of beating him and forcing him to swallow drugs.  
Kalaw said that after  a routine medical examination at a hospital, he was taken back to the police precinct, where three other officers, including Mendoza, threatened to imprison him on drug charges unless he paid 200,000 pesos. Kalaw said the police let him go after his friend brought 20,000 pesos, which was given to the officers. 
The same morning the affidavit was filed, Mendoza went to the Kalaws' house and  protested his innocence, according to Bob Kalaw.  
The next day, Matta wrote to Lucindo to saying that the officers named by Kalaw would be held criminally liable.  In an e-mail to Lucindo, Matta asked her to 'please pass to all concerned'.
Mendoza was soon reassigned to Mindanao.  On June 16,  he was put on 90-day 'preventive suspension'. 
But in July the case was transferred to the Ombudsman at  Bob Kalaw's request.  
On August 22, 2008, Mendoza and the other accused officers filed a counter-affidavit with the Ombudsman, denying Kalaw's allegations. The two patrol officers  said they stopped Kalaw for being illegally parked. When Kalaw could not produce his driver's license, he was told he could wait for his friend to bring documents at the police precinct, they said. 
In the morning, Kalaw's friend brought his driver's license, but the names did not match, according to the counter-affidavit. Kalaw promised to return with additional documents  and the officers let him go.  When Kalaw failed to return, a case was filed with the city prosecutor of Manila, according to the counter-affidavit. 
The city court clerk's office received a case record on June 13, 2008 from the city prosecutor's office, charging Kalaw with traffic violations. Kalaw failed to appear at his arraignment on August 12, 2008 and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.  
Kalaw also failed to appear at proceedings against the accused officers, forcing the PNP Internal Affairs Service and prosecutors to drop the criminal and administrative charges against Mendoza in the latter half of 2008. 
But the Ombudsman's case was still pending, and on February 16, 2009, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez  recommended all the officers be dismissed from service for 'grave misconduct'.  
It did not specify what Mendoza did that constituted 'grave misconduct'. 
Mendoza was immediately dismissed, stripped of his retirement benefits and disqualified from re-employment in government service.
The officers filed a joint Motion for Reconsideration in November 2009. That same month, Mendoza also filed a separate Motion for Reconsideration.  
Mendoza never received a response  and in March of this year, he sent three letters to the Ombudsman, asking for resolution of his case. 
On August 23, Mendoza made his final appeal. 
After taking the Hong Thai bus occupants hostage, Mendoza posted his demands in the front window. At the top of that list:
'Please final decision: OMB-P-A-08-0670-H.'
The Ombudsman's office issued its final decision  on Monday, denying Mendoza's motion. 
Gutierrez has been accused of protecting former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and sitting on cases involving members of the Arroyo administration.
Gutierrez is facing impeachment charges but has so far managed to evade government scrutiny for her role in Mendoza's case. She declined invitations to testify at hearings by the Department of Justice on the siege.  
Last week, Representative Neri Colmenares asked Congress to summon the Ombudsman and look into Mendoza's complaint that he  was dismissed from the police force without due process.
'The root cause of all this is (Mendoza's) sense of injustice. He felt so aggrieved that he had to resort to hostage-taking,' Colmenares told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.  'The key there is the Ombudsman.'
Senator Gregorio Honasan,  chairman of the Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs,  pledged that his committee would examine legislative remedies  for the anti-corruption system's failings and would summon the Ombudsman to testify.  
'I see good signs,' Honasan said. 'It is just unfortunate that nine people had to die.'



Twists, turns that led Mendoza to despair