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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-9/mendoza-superstar-sm.webp" alt="Estelito Mendoza and his clients" />
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(Estelito Mendoza and some of his clients)
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Mendoza's clients included the former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, accused of plundering government coffers during her nine-year regime. Mendoza also argued for the government of former President Ferdinand Marcos as solicitor general and justice minister. When Marcos fell and went in exile in February 1986, his perceived cronies sought Mendoza's service. 
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These clients - business tycoons Lucio Tan and Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. - were never convicted in court and have not spent a single minute in jail. He said:
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"I'm a lawyer. I don't choose what cases I have. Those in the wrong side are most deserving of having lawyers."
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"I'm just doing my job and that's what I have been trained for I have been at this for many years. I find great satisfaction performing my duty because I contribute to the administration of justice. I can assure you that I win my cases because I work hard." 
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<h3>
Marcos years 
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A native of Bacolor, Pampanga, Estelito Mendoza was born in 1930. He earned his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of the Philippines, where he also taught law when he was only 24. He also gained his Master of Laws degree at the Harvard University in the United States. 
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In his teaching career, two of his students, Hilario Davide Jr. and Reynato Puno, later became Supreme Court chief justices. In 1972, the year Marcos declared martial law, Mendoza served as solicitor general. 
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In 1980, he was governor of Pampanga. In 1984, he served as minister of justice and a member of the Batasang Pambansa.
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Mendoza recalled the hardest case he handled was the Javellana vs. Executive Secretary case that virtually paved the way for Marcos' one-man rule. 
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Mendoza held government posts until 1986, when Marcos was forced to step down as president, newly-installed President Corazon Aquino formed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to go after the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and his cronies. Mendoza then represented Marcos, his wife Imelda Marcos, and their families' alleged close allies. 
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Mendoza said in October 2010:
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"After 1986, I became jobless, so I lost my job. I decided to practice law, the only occupation I knew. I practiced by myself because others were apprehensive that my practice will not endure because of the bias against all Marcoses. [I thought] I might probably win a case and will have no clients."
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"Fortunately, it turned otherwise. President Aquino, in creating a PCGG, provided ready clients for me. All those being sued by the government became my clients, like Lucio Tan and Danding Cojuangco, who even up to now are my clients in their businesses." 
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Marcos died while in exile in Hawaii in 1989, leaving his wife, Imelda to fend off the sword of justice by herself. 
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According to records of the Philippine anti-graft court Sandiganbayan as of 2005, Mrs. Marcos continues to face 11 criminal charges and 25 civil cases. Since the 1990s, she has faced more than 900 cases, most of which were dismissed for lack of evidence. The few convictions were overturned. 
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Lucio Tan, for his part, was acquitted of a P27-billion tax evasion case in 2006. 
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To date, neither the Marcoses nor any of their cronies accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth have spent a minute in jail. The government has had little success in recovering the Marcos wealth, if only those that are ensconced in a range of corporations and properties. Mendoza says that Marcos is the <b>"smartest"</b> Philippine president. 
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<h3>
Erap trial
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Mendoza later returned to prominence when he represented President Joseph Estrada after he was forced to bow out of office in January 2001. 
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Anti-Estrada sentiments culminated in another People Power Revolution in EDSA, forcing Estrada to bow out of office on January 20 that year. His vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, succeeded him. 
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After falling from grace, Estrada faced a plunder trial at the Sandiganbayan, with Mendoza as the head of the defense panel. The Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada of plunder in September 2007 but Arroyo pardoned the deposed leader a month later. 
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Mendoza said he was helping Estrada by dispensing legal advice in a $120-million suit lodged against him in the United States. The Dacers are seeking a $20 million compensatory damage and $100 million punitive damages for the death of their father in November 2000. Estrada allegedly ordered Dacer's killing but the former president has since denied this. 
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Another high-profile client of Mendoza's was Arroyo, who faced plunder complaint at the Department of Justice (DOJ) over the sale of the old Iloilo airport in 2007. 
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The complainant, private citizen Danilo Lihaylihay accused Arroyo and other former government officials of anomaly because P72-million in taxes did not go to the government. 
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On September 2010, Arroyo appeared before the DOJ preliminary probe. It was her first-ever appearance at a government inquiry looking into alleged wrongdoings during her nine-year presidency. Mendoza said he wanted the complaint junked for lack of basis. He successfully defended her in the plunder case.
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The lawyer also handled the controversial case involving the cityhood of 16 towns. Mendoza represented the sixteen towns seeking to be declared as cities. In November 2008, the court said the creation of the cities were unconstitutional. In December 2009, the court reversed itself and ruled in favor of the 16 towns. It was revealed that in January that year, Mendoza wrote a letter to the court asking for the participation of justices who were absent when the high tribunal promulgated its November 2008 decision. 
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Unfortunately for Mendoza, the court reversed itself once again, this time ruling that the creation of the 16 cities was unconstitutional. At present, Mendoza is still asking the court to hold oral arguments for the case. 
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Mendoza also represented Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla in his plunder case that was dismissed in 2019.  He was also the lawyer of former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, also a plunder defendant, who was allowed to post bail by the SC.
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A legal luminary who declined to be named described Mendoza's act as a form of wielding influence over the court. He said:
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"In the League of Cities case, his letter to the justices proved to be decisive." 
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Getting to know Estelito Mendoza, the "Superstar of Lawyers"