EPD to provide legal aid to cops facing charges

In its bid to prevent another policemen from “doing a Mendoza,” the Eastern Police District (EPD) launched on Friday a program offering legal assistance to policemen facing administrative and criminal charges in the performance of their duties.

Lawyer Sara Espinosa-Morales, EPD’s legal officer, said the project “Gabay” was aimed at addressing the problems of the likes of slain hostage-taker Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza.

“We want to help all the policemen who have been slapped with charges while performing their normal duties,” Espinosa-Morales told the Inquirer.

She cited the case of Mendoza who took hostage Hong Kong nationals on a tourist bus at the Quirino Grandstand last year to demand his reinstatement to the police service and the dismissal of the case filed against him at the Office of the Ombudsman. Eight of the hostages ended up killed in the botched rescue try.

“Had we monitored his case and given him advice on what to do, the (bloodbath) and even the hostage-taking would not have happened,” Espinosa-Morales said. Niña Calleja