Tag Archives: Justice

Bending the Law: The Legacy of Estelito Mendoza

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At the age of 95, the so-called “Lawyer of last resort”, Estelito Mendoza, passed away today, March 26, 2025. While many will herald him as one of the titans of the Philippine legal landscape, we must not forget the roles he played during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

As Minister of Justice and Solicitor General during the period of Martial Law, Mendoza was key to giving legal clothing to the Marcos dictatorship – using the law to silence dissent, sweep away democratic institutions, and kept political prisoners deprived of liberty.

The infamous case of Javellana v. Executive Secretary, Mendoza justified the legality of Martial Law and the indefinite suspension of civil liberties.

Even after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, Mendoza continued providing legal services to the many cronies who enabled and benefitted from ill-gotten wealth: Imelda Marcos, Lucio Tan, Roberto Ongpin, and Danding Cojuangco.

Mendoza served as chief counsel for Joseph Estrada during his impeachment trial.

He went to score legal victories for accused plunderers:

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was acquitted of plunder in the PCSO fund scam

Jaime Dichaves, the self-confessed owner of the Jose Velarde accounts, was acquitted of plunder charges.

Bong Revilla who was implicated in the pork barrel scam of Janet Lim-Napoles, also got acquitted.

Juan Ponce-Enrile, former Defense chief and one of the architects of Martial Law, was granted bail thanks to Mendoza.

When the Supreme Court decided in favor of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s appointment of Renato Corona as Chief Justice, ruling that the ban on midnight appointments did not cover it, it was Mendoza’s arguments that formed the basis for that decision.

This is Estelito Mendoza’s legacy: bending the law to benefit his clients, regardless of precedents or its spirit.

#PulisAngTerorista

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Once more #PulisAngTerorista is trending on Twitter because of the most recent incident of road rage, assault and even cocking a gun involving a retired police officer who was driving on the bike lane.

Last night, the Quezon City PNP had a press conference to ‘address the matter’ where a couple of things smack of further impunity by authorities and their former members – only the retired police officer who pulled out a gun was present, the bike rider was not present, out of fear for his safety and that of his family, and the QC PNP once more acting like a spokesperson for their erring comrade.

From the posts of lawyer Raymond Fortun, who is now taking on a crusade to make the retired police officer accountable, it’s clear that the victim had already been silenced by fear as he has refused to file charges and pursue the matter altogether. Adding insult to injury, the police officials at the press conference had the audacity to declare that “anyone is free to file charges” like a veiled threat to anyone who would go up against their authority.

All this after 17-year-old Jherod Jemboy Baltazar was gunned down by incompetent and trigger-happy policemen. Another minor, a 15-year-old kid ended up with bruises and injuries after being beaten up by the Navotas Maritime Police.

Remember all these when you consider that the public is paying for the pension fund of police officers with no contribution from them when they were still on active duty. You’d think that abusive and corrupt police are only present in the US hence the outcry “ACAB”, in the Philippines, #PulisAngTerorista