TANAUAN CITY, Philippines?The most visible sign of the fate that befell Rolando Mendoza, once a decorated police officer, was the one that was missing in the coffin that bore his body as it was brought home here?the Philippine flag.

Mendoza, killed in a bungled police operation to rescue his hostages last Monday, was dressed in the uniform that he had proudly worn as an officer of the Manila Police District.

It was a uniform different from the one he wore on Monday when, in camouflage pants, army boots and blue police shirt, he brandished an Armalite rifle to seize a tour bus with 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipino tourism workers in a hostage drama that ended as one of the country?s bloodiest.

Unlike officers who fell in the line of duty, however, the remains of Mendoza bore none of the decorations that marked a tour of duty well served.

If he hadn?t been dressed in his old uniform, strangers who dropped in at the Mendoza home to satisfy curiosity wouldn?t have known that the body in the coffin was of someone who had spent at least 20 years of his life as a law enforcer.

From hero to villain

The glaring absence of the Philippine flag in his coffin was a brief, but clear narrative of what became of Mendoza in the eyes of millions?from bemedalled police officer to the country?s newest villain.

It wasn?t a villainous Mendoza who came home, however, but someone driven to desperation by the absence of justice as far as his relatives are concerned.

On the night his body came home, there was no other sound at the Mendoza bungalow except that of wailing. The light of camera flashes bounced off on walls and on faces that bore images of grief.

The loudest cry came from 79-year-old Leonardo, Mendoza?s father, who sat in the terrace as relatives, also weeping loudly, held him to keep him from falling if he suffered hypertensive attack.

?I have accepted it,? cried Leonardo. ?His life has ended and so has everything else.?

Time for stories

Mendoza?s homecoming became a time to reminisce for relatives and friends, which is common in wakes.

The stories that were recalled would have been common had it not been about someone who rose in the police ranks as a dedicated cop but was felled by police snipers? bullets as a dangerous villain.

His youngest son, 26-year-old Bismarck, also a policeman assigned to Abra, recalled how his father spent his days after he was dismissed from the service attending to a small cafeteria that he built with his wife, Aurora, near their home here.

The appeal for a reversal of the dismissal that slept at the Ombudsman, however, continued to preoccupy the late policeman?s mind, according to Bismarck.

?I knew about his appeal to the Ombudsman. Every time I came home, he would tell me, ?this is from the Ombudsman, now here is my counter (affidavit),?? said Bismarck.

Brief distraction

There was a brief distraction from the case in late July, when another son, Andrew, got married, according to Bismarck.

?He did not even mention about the case at that time because everybody was busy about the wedding,? he said.

The wedding would be over soon, however, and the distraction gone.

Andrew, who found work as a seaman about two weeks ago, came home to a gathering vastly different from the one that embraced his wedding in his father?s home. Andrew wouldn?t talk to reporters.

It was Bismarck who said it all. ?My morale is low right now,? said the youngest son.

Last conversation

The stories flowed just as visitors, both known to the family and strangers, started streaming in.

A close friend, JR Gonzales, recalled a phone conversation he had with Mendoza just minutes before the carnage began.

He watched the hostage drama unfold on TV and recalled talking to Mendoza by phone at 4 p.m., about two hours before all hell broke loose in the hostage site.

?I was telling him not to hurt any of the hostages,? Gonzales recalled his brief conversation with Mendoza. ?He said yes and he was just very calm at the time.?

When the situation deteriorated, Gonzales said he tried calling Mendoza up again, but the phone (he didn?t elaborate whose phone line he was able to contact) that the hostage taker had used was busy and eventually the line went dead.

As the night wore on, the realization that Mendoza was dead started to sink in among his relatives, but some clung to the image of a policeman whose awards, plaques, certificates lined the ceiling of his house?s garage.

?He is smiling. He seems to be happy,? said Malou, Mendoza?s sister, describing her brother?s body in the flag-less coffin. Maricar Cinco and Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon