Ex-Batangas lawmaker slay suspect killed

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines  – A suspect in the gruesome murder of former Batangas lawmaker Edgar Mendoza and his two companions in January was killed in an alleged shootout with law enforcers in San Juan town on Tuesday.

Rodel Mercado fired at police officers serving a warrant of arrest for illegal possession of firearms at his hideout in Barangay Bulsa at around 5 a. m., Col. Rex Arvin Malimban, Batangas police director, said.

Malimban said five other suspects – three men and two women – were arrested two weeks after the bodies of the victims were found.

The charred remains of Mendoza, his driver Ruel Ruiz and his bodyguard Nicanor, also surnamed Mendoza, were found in a burned vehicle in Tiaong, Quezon.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said the victims were drugged then stabbed to death before they were burned in Mendoza’s car. The bodies of the victims were recovered a day after they were reported missing.

The CIDG said one of Mendoza’s client who is serving a life sentence for murder at the New Bilibid Prison, masterminded the killing.

Probers are eyeing a disagreement on the amount of lawyer’s fee that Mendoza was supposed to collect as the motive for the killing.