Ex-DOTC chief Mendoza dies of heart attack

Former DOTC chief Leandro Mendoza. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Former Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza died of heart attack Monday morning. He was 67.

Mendoza’s son, Batangas Representative Mark Llandro Mendoza, himself confirmed the news, former Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Undersecretary Thompson Lantion told Inquirer.net over  the phone.

Lantion said the family would bring the body to Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig.

Radyo Inquirer 990AM  also reported that  Mendoza’s death was announced at the Land Transportation Office’s (LTO) flag raising ceremony by Engineer Joel Donato, chief of the LTO Motor Vehicle Inspection Section.

Donato told the radio station that they were informed of Mendoza’s passing through a text message.

In March 2012 or a week after he was ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan on graft charges, Mendoza suffered a heart attack and was airlifted to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

Months later, a wheelchair-bound Mendoza entered his not guilty plea to charges that he was involved in the aborted $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal, along with former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos.

Mendoza, who served as Executive Secretary and Director General of the Philippine National Police under Arroyo, was accused of signing the controversial NBN deal.

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