Estelito Mendoza: The 鈥榮uper lawyer鈥� who shaped PH jurisprudence
Estelito Mendoza, who died at the age of 95, was more than just a lawyer; he was a towering figure in the country’s jurisprudence, having represented several high profiles in high-stake cases, including the plunder case of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was eventually acquitted. FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines — Estelito Mendoza, who died at the age of 95, was more than just a lawyer; he was a towering figure in the country’s jurisprudence, having represented several high profiles in high-stake cases.
Touted as a “super lawyer,” Mendoza was known for representing some of the country’s most high-profile and often controversial figures.
READ: Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, former solicitor general, dies at 95
His roster of clients was the who’s who of both Philippine politics and business—from former President Joseph Estrada to business tycoon Lucio Tan, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and more recently, Vice President Sara Duterte.
This level of clientele proved that he was the go-to legal counsel for the country’s top elite.
One of Mendoza’s landmark cases involved reviving dead cases, specifically the long legal battle between the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and its 1,400 flight attendants and stewards retrenched in 1998.
In 2009, the Supreme Court declared with finality that the PAL staff were illegally retrenched, but almost a decade later, a mere letter from Mendoza led to its reversal in 2018.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, in a dissenting opinion of the reversal, tagged the ruling as an “extraordinary case,” seeing it as a “miraculous resurrection of the dead: in this case, a dead case.”
READ: ‘Miraculous resurrection of the dead,’ says Leonen of SC decision on PAL
Mendoza also paved the way for the acquittal in 1998 of former First Lady Imelda Marcos when she was accused of illegally leasing two Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) lots to the Philippine General Hospital Foundation, which then subleased them at a higher rate.
The Sandiganbayan initially convicted her, but with Mendoza representing her, the Supreme Court acquitted her on one of the cases in which she was convicted.
Mendoza also represented Estrada during his impeachment trial in 2001 and was lead counsel on his plunder case where he was convicted in 2007.
He also represented former President Gloria Arroyo in 2016, specifically, when she was acquitted in her plunder case for the alleged misuse of the P366-million Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office fund.
Mendoza also served as the lawyer for then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla during the 2013 pork barrel scam controversy. The Sandiganbayan dismissed the case against Revilla in 2021, while Enrile was acquitted in October 2024.
Mendoza’s most recent legal role was representing Duterte in three certiorari petitions before the high court over the controversial P125 million confidential fund the vice president received in 2022.
Apart from a plethora of big names, Mendoza also represented smaller personalities, including individuals sentenced to the death penalty but who ended up being acquitted before capital punishment was abolished in 2006.
Mendoza also served as solicitor general from 1972 to 1986, a time when he successfully defended the validity of the 1973 Constitution.
Regardless of his choice of clients, or where he ended up standing on the side of history, Mendoza undeniably impacted Philippine jurisprudence.
Spanning decades, and witnessing multiple administrations and political shifts, Mendoza’s contributions to the country’s legal system and theory of law shaped the country’s legal framework and will continue to do so for better or for worse.
