Slain cop’s son found dead, wrapped in plastic, in Tarlac farm
MABALACAT CITY—The two-week search for the 8-year-old son of a slain policewoman ended in a calamansi farm in the village of Maluid in Victoria, Tarlac, on Thursday afternoon, where a farmer found the decomposing body of the child wrapped in tape and plastic garbage bag.
The Southern Police District (SPD) in Metro Manila said John Ysmael Mollenido was last seen alive on Jan. 16 with his mother, Senior Master Sgt. Diane Marie Mollenido, on the day they were supposed to meet a car agent in Novaliches, Quezon City. The elder Mollenido, who was reported missing on Jan. 19 with her son, was found dead by a roadside in Pulilan, Bulacan, on Jan. 24. The policewoman, who was assigned to the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Personnel and Records Management Division, had a bullet wound to the head.
Car sale
According to the Victoria municipal police, a farmworker came across John Ysmael’s body while cutting grass at the farm, which is owned by the barangay chair. Autopsy results indicate that the boy died of “asphyxia by suffocation.”
Police said that on Jan. 16, the mother and son, who were residents of Taguig City, traveled to Novaliches to meet a female agent for the sale of their Toyota Innova for P450,000. They never returned home.
The agent, whose husband is a dismissed policeman, is a person of interest in the case. Police had yet to identify the agent.
John Ysmael’s father, Senior Master Sgt. John Mollenido, the estranged husband of the slain officer, has also been named a person of interest. He identified his son’s remains through the boy’s clothes, shoes and build.
Lt. Margaret Panaga, SPD public information officer, said the car agent, who was among the people last seen with Mollenido, could not be contacted by authorities lately.
Irrigation road
Police Col. Franklin Estoro, Tarlac police director, on Friday said that the provincial police were coordinating with the Special Investigation Task Group Mollenido for a thorough probe, including reviewing security camera footage in Victoria to aid their investigation.
In a telephone interview on Friday, Maluid village chief Sandy Torres, owner of the roughly 1-hectare calamansi farm, told the Inquirer that the boy’s body was discovered just below the irrigation road.
“The irrigation road is rough and is traversed by vehicles, about a kilometer from the Victoria Road, which is the national road,” he said in Filipino.
Torres said that just before 3 p.m. on Thursday, a farmer was cutting cogon and other grasses in the area to be used as feed for his farm animals when he noticed the plastic bag.
“The farmer saw a long plastic bag containing what looked like a human body while he was cutting the grass, so he immediately became suspicious. He called a barangay councilor, who in turn immediately informed me,” Torres said.
“I told them to call the police right away, and I also went to the area. When I arrived, I saw that it was indeed a human body wrapped in plastic. When the police came, they immediately cordoned off the area,” he added.
Torres said the body was wrapped tightly enough that no odor could be detected from the irrigation canal road.
PNP assistance
“When you’re on the irrigation road, you wouldn’t notice any smell. When I got closer to the wrapped plastic, I only detected a slight unusual odor,” he said.
In a statement on Friday, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the agency was extending “full financial and protection assistance” to Mollenido’s family.
“At this time of shock and grief to the family of PSMS Mollenido, [the police] will provide all forms of assistance, including protection and counseling if necessary,” he added.
Nartatez had ordered the NCRPO and the Central Luzon regional police to prioritize the resolution of the case.
