Rolando Mendoza: From decorated cop to hostage-taker
Former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, the decorated police officer turned hostage-taker, died a gruesome death on August 23, the day he took 25 passengers of a tourist bus hostage in Manila. However, Mendoza’s fall from grace began not on that fateful day, but more than two years ago as he allegedly became involved in a controversial “hulidap" operation in April 2008. “Hulidap" is a Filipino slang word coined from “huli" (arrest) and “holdup." “Hulidap policemen" conduct illegal arrests of innocent civilians with the aim of extorting money from them. It is not certain when Mendoza allegedly started engaging in hulidap. However, his alleged hulidap activity on April 9, 2008 has been well-exposed in the cyber world. (See: 5 cops charged for extortion, forcing chef to eat shabu) Stories and blogs about Mendoza and his fellow policemen’s illegal activity on that day had gone viral on the Internet after their victim’s father posted an email about his son’s ordeal. Decorated police officer Before the April 2008 incident, Mendoza was a recipient of several awards in his 28 years as a policeman. He received a Medalya ng Papuri (Medal of Honor), PNP Badge of Honor, Medalya ng Kasanayan (Medal of Competence), Medalya ng Kagalingan (Medal of Excellence) and the Medalya ng Paglilingkod (Medal of Service). He was also a recipient of the 1986 Ten Outstanding Policemen of the Philippines of the Jaycees International award. Mendoza entered the police force in 1981 as a patrolman in the defunct Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP) and became SPO2 in the early 1990s following the birth of the Philippine National Police. He was promoted to inspector in 2002 and senior inspector in 2005. He was scheduled to retire on January 10, 2011 but his term was cut short on February 16 last year due to charges of robbery and extortion. Before his dismissal, Mendoza was meted a 90-day suspension in June 2008 over the same charges. He was supposed to be reassigned to Mindanao until he was ordered dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman. Police Director Leocadio Santiago, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said that any sentence by the Ombudsman is immediately executory. "The PNP is compelled to execute the order," he said. Robbery, extortion, physical injuries What caused Mendoza's group's downfall was a complaint filed by Christian Kalaw, a hotel chef, who accused the policemen of extorting money from him. Kalaw claimed that policemen accosted him after parking his car along Taft Avenue, Manila on April 9, 2008, telling him that parking in the area was prohibited. A simple parking violation turned ugly after the policemen allegedly conducted a search on Kalaw's car where the law enforcers even allegedly took the chef's P3,000 cash. The policemen then allegedly brought Kalaw to another location — Roxas Boulevard — and forced him to withdraw money from his ATM account. However, Kalaw’s ATM account turned out to be empty.