Crooks in uniform
The twin murders were committed on Jan. 16. Just three weeks later, the interior secretary himself announced that, with suspects in custody and the motive for the crimes supposedly now clear, the case was closed.
In terms of textbook efficiency, the Philippine National Police’s handling of the horrific killing of Police Senior Master Sergeant Diane Marie Mollenido and her 8-year-old son may earn it plaudits. Mollenido’s body was recovered on Jan. 24 in a creek in Pulilan, Bulacan, while her son John Ysmael’s remains were found in a farm in Victoria, Tarlac. Both bodies were wrapped in black plastic bags.
Who could do such a diabolical deed—particularly the killing of a helpless child? Police announced soon enough that they had primary suspects in mind, who were quickly arrested: a car dealer and her husband, a dismissed police officer.
The murders allegedly stemmed from a botched car deal: Mollenido was lured into believing she was buying a new car to replace her old one. She had already paid a down payment for the car, but the new vehicle was in fact nonexistent. When she went to the car dealer’s home, the ex-cop shot her in the head, and her son, who had simply gone along with his mother to the meeting, was suffocated with plastic over his head.
Troubling loose ends
But also, according to the police, Mollenido’s estranged husband, likewise a police officer, remains a suspect because he allegedly had his wife’s body immediately cremated without an autopsy. The car dealer also eventually implicated him, saying he had ordered the killing of his wife and kid.
How is this “case closed” by any measure, when, for starters, the husband’s alleged central participation still needs thorough investigation?
Over and above the troubling loose ends still haunting this case, despite its seemingly swift resolution, is an element that jumps out at the public: Three police officers’ names (one a victim) are entangled in yet another heinous crime, or cluster of crimes. The car dealer’s partner may now be an ex-cop, but that former association triggers questions about the sense of ruthlessness and impunity the man had for killing two people in cold blood inside a home, while their very own children were in rooms upstairs.
On the same week Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla declared that the Mollenido murders were now considered resolved, more reports of rogue police behavior were in the news.
‘Rest assured’
Six police officers, for instance, were arrested for allegedly holding up three victims in Makati City on Wednesday night last week. The victims said a group of armed men pointed guns at them, tied their hands, robbed them of their belongings, and fled aboard motorcycles. The suspects turned out to be one police staff sergeant, a police corporal, and four patrolmen.
Last month, nine police officers, along with six civilians, were also arrested for involvement in the missing “sabungeros” case, in which as many as 34 cockfight aficionados disappeared and were said to have been killed, ending up at the bottom of Taal Lake, for supposedly engaging in game-fixing.
The alleged mastermind, gaming tycoon Charlie “Atong” Ang, remains at large, and every day that he is on the run is also an indictment of the PNP’s ability to enforce the law, especially against a powerful and well-connected individual.
“For the past weeks, we’ve had police officers involved or unmasked or discovered to be involved in death cases, and we will make sure we will do everything … to ensure that they will be accountable,” vowed acting PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. “Rest assured that the Philippine National Police will do its job to cleanse its ranks. No cover-up. No whitewash.”
Rampant problem
That rote “rest assured” does little in providing genuine assurance to Filipinos. Law enforcers turned lawbreakers hardly merit a shocked look in this country these days. Still, even the most cynical find themselves shaken by the depravity some from the police force can descend to, like the murder of Mollenido’s child. Or further back, the killing of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, strangled by cops in his own car parked inside the grounds of Camp Crame, the national police headquarters. His cremated ashes were later flushed down the toilet, while the perpetrators helped themselves to the slain Korean’s golf club and other personal effects. Not to mention the involvement of cops in at least 6,000 extrajudicial killings in the Duterte drug war.
The PNP says it is working hard to address the rampant problem of erring cops in their ranks. In 2025, the organization dismissed 1,120 personnel from the service and suspended 1,425 others.
It needs to work way harder—not just at dismissal, but the actual successful prosecution of crooks in uniform. The sheer number of cops axed from service, for being knee-deep in all manner of criminal activity, only underlines why the people’s faith in the country’s law enforcement institutions continues to be in a precarious state.
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