Mendoza victim fears for his life

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh from international culinary school, Christian Kalaw was enjoying his hard-earned money as a promising young chef for the plush Mandarin Oriental Hotel – until the night of April 9, 2008.

On that fateful night, five policemen accosted Christian – then 25 – purportedly for driving without a license, illegal parking, and possession of illegal drugs just outside the condominium he was renting. He was later even forced to swallow a white substance that turned out to be shabu at the parking lot of the Ospital ng Maynila while being gagged with the seatbelt of his car.

The policemen were led by then Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, the man who on Monday held hostage a busload of Hong Kong tourists, eight of whom he later killed before being shot dead himself by a police sniper after an 11-hour standoff.

In the 2008 incident, Christian was robbed by Mendoza and his men of P3,000. He was eventually forced to pay P20,000 for his release.

“Christian wants to move on with his life. They don’t want to talk to the media,” a friend of the Kalaw family told The STAR yesterday.

After the incident, the victim lost his job because he was considered “a security risk” by the hotel management.

“His whole world was turned upside down,” the family friend, who requested anonymity, said. Christian was so traumatized by his experience in the hands of the policemen that he wouldn’t go out of his house for months.

“He’d really rather put it past him. I’m really sorry that it happened this way for Captain Mendoza,” the family friend said, noting that the victim is now trying to go on with his life. 

The STAR learned that Christian’s father, who was the one who asked the Office of the Ombudsman to handle the case of his son, is now living in the province and that he has a younger sister living abroad.

For now, he’d rather keep his whereabouts unknown and not be reminded of the day that changed his life.

The Kalaws, the family friend said, just wanted to be left alone.