MANILA, Philippines - Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III on Monday denied allegations that he asked for a P150,000 bribe from dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza to dismiss the criminal case filed against him before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a press conference, Gonzalez said he had never met Mendoza and had never asked for a bribe from the dismissed police officer.

He said he only talked to Mendoza after the latter took hostage 25 people on board a Hong Thai Travel bus in Rizal Park last August 23 in a bid to be reinstated to the police service.

He said Manila Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno called him up during the hostage negotiations and asked if he wanted to speak to the hostage-taker regarding the latter's case.

"Mendoza told me: 'Nanghihingi kayo ng P150,000.' (You are asking for P150,000). Ang sabi ko, 'Hindi totoo yan.' That is not true. Hindi tayo nagkita. Hindi kita kakilala (We've never met. I don't know you)," Gonzalez, who is deputy Ombudsman for military and other law enforcement offices, said.

He said the hostage-taker then said: "Sine-set up niyo ako. (You are setting me up.) Ang sagot ko: Sino? Kailan? Saan? (I answered: Who? When? Where?) But he didn't answer me," he said.

Mendoza, a decorated police officer, was dismissed from the service along with 4 others for extorting money from a hotel chef in 2008.

Gonzalez said Kalaw's case against Mendoza was first filed before the Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS). The case wound up at the Office of the Ombudsman after the victim's father personally complained to him that the PNP summons on the case was being served by Mendoza's wife.

Gonzalez said his decision recommending Mendoza's dismissal was based on the facts and evidence presented before the Ombudsman. He said that in his 22 years in government service, he has never asked anybody for a bribe.

"I will not tarnish the name of my father, my family and of course this institution, Hindi ko po gagawin yan. We have nothing personal against [Mendoza]. We only did our job and after doing it, they are maligning my name," he told reporters.

Allegations that the Deputy Ombudsman tried to extort money from Mendoza surfaced over the weekend after a police negotiator told a government inquiry that he overheard the hostage-taker talking to Gonzalez via cell phone during the hostage crisis that killed 9 people.

Chief Inspector Romeo Salvador said he heard Mendoza tell the other person on the line, supposedly Gonzalez, “Humihingi ka pa P150,000…Kung may mamamatay, kasalanan mo ito.” Mendoza also hurled several invectives.

Mendoza also told a radio network that Gonzalez and Ombudsman Gutierrez would be at fault if the situation inside the hijacked bus worsens. 

Gonzalez said that after Mendoza's case was transferred from the PNP to his office, Mendoza filed an administrative case against lawyer Clarence Guinto, the chief of the Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division of the National Capital Region Police Office, who was supposed to handle his case in the PNP-IAS.

Gonzalez said he did not want to speak ill of Mendoza considering what happened to him in the hostage crisis.

"I don't want to rub it in because I know what happened to him but he is destroying my reputation and my family," he said.