Ex-congressman, 2 others killed; bodies burned in car

TORCHED The car containing the bodies of former Batangas Rep. Edgar Mendoza and two other people was still in flames when the police found it on a bridge at Barangay San Francisco in Tiaong, Quezon. —PHOTO COURTESY OF QUEZON PROVINCIAL POLICE

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Police began retracing the possible route taken by former Batangas Rep. Edgar Mendoza hours after his car was found burning in Tiaong, Quezon province, early Thursday.

Investigators believed the remains of Mendoza, a former Batangas trial court judge, were among those of three people found inside his car that was abandoned on a bridge rarely used by motorists in Barangay San Francisco.

Police said the fire had yet to die down when they responded to what was initially tagged as an arson case around 1:45 a.m.

They later said the two other bodies possibly belonged to Mendoza’s driver, Ruel Ruiz, and bodyguard Nicanor Mendoza. It was not immediately known if Nicanor was related to the former lawmaker. “They were all charred beyond recognition. What were left were almost all bones. And the experts were still conducting investigations,” said Police Maj. Lawrence Panganiban, Tiaong police chief. “Let us wait for the complete results.”

Palace sympathy

Malacañang condemned the murder of the former lawmaker.

“This is an outrageous act of barbarism. The perpetrators of this heinous crime will be pursued till they are placed behind bars,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Thursday.

Panelo expressed the Palace’s sympathy to the family, loved ones, colleagues and constituents of Mendoza.

“We assure the bereaved family of the deceased that justice will be accorded by prosecuting the people behind this dastardly crime to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.

Mendoza served as congressman in the second district of Batangas from 1998 to 2001 and went on to run a law firm in Batangas City, according to Pepito Mendoza, a distant relative and lawyer.

He served as judge on the Regional Trial Court in Batangas City in the 1990s before becoming a commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration (formerly the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation).

Foul play, out of way

Police recovered an identification card that belonged to Mendoza. His son, Edgar Carlos Mendoza Jr., confirmed the car, a Honda Civic (DND 6374), belonged to his father.

In a phone interview, Police Col. Audie Madrideo, Quezon police director, said it was hard to tell how the victims died but suspected they were already dead before the car was set on fire.

“The bodies were all found in the backseat,” Madrideo said.

Suspecting foul play, Madrideo said the police had begun retracing the route of Mendoza and his companions from Lipa City, Batangas province, where they were last seen alive around noon on Wednesday.

Mendoza’s son told the police that his father left their house in Batangas City around 10 a.m. to have lunch in Lipa before supposedly proceeding to meet with a client in Calamba City in neighboring Laguna province. “Between 10 a.m. and 2 a.m. (when the car was recovered), I think they made it to Calamba. That’s why we’re trying to find out who that supposed client was,” Madrideo said.

“They could have been killed elsewhere and their bodies dumped here (in Quezon). If you have to go to Calamba, (Tiaong) is out of way,” he added. —WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO