The Wedding of Chief John Michael Mendiola & Dr. Colleen Iris Mendiola
Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral | October 3, 2026
Chief John Michael Mendiola and Dr. Colleen Iris Mendiola share their first kiss as husband and wife.
Some people search their whole lives for love. For Michael, love was waiting at the airport — and it arrived with a joke.
He had just graduated from the Philippine National Police Academy in 2021, a young officer newly assigned to Cebu, with nothing but a duffel bag, a new uniform, and a heart that had never yet belonged to anyone. No girlfriend since birth, his friends would tease.
Chief Michael Mendiola and Dr. Colleen Mendiola pose at the altar of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
His classmate, PCPT Christopher Sanchez, offered him a place to stay — his family’s home, shared with another classmate, PCPT Alfredo Liguayan. When they were picked up at the airport, Christopher looked at Michael, smiled that knowing brother’s smile, and said the line that would change three lives forever: “I have a sister who’s currently studying in med school, it’s up to you if you want to pursue her.”
It was half-teasing, half-blessing. Michael laughed. But he remembered her name. He remembered the way her brother spoke of her with pride. And he pursued her — not with grand gestures at first, but with the quiet, steady patience of a man trained in discipline and honor. He waited. He showed up. He listened.
Colleen was in medical school then, buried in books, long nights, and dreams of healing people. She did not need a hero. She needed someone true. And in Michael, she found a man who protected without possessing, who loved without rushing, who made her feel safe in a world that often felt heavy.
The couple bow their heads in prayer at the prie-dieu during the nuptial rites.
Chief Mendiola walks down the aisle beneath the crossed sabers of fellow officers, a tradition that reflects the loyalty, discipline and service shared by PNPA graduates.
Dr. Colleen Iris Mendiola makes her entrance down the flower-lined aisle beneath the PNPA saber escort, a ceremonial tribute symbolizing protection, unity and the vows that bind the couple.
In 2022, they officially became a couple.
It was not loud. It was not dramatic. It was simply right — like two paths that had been walking toward each other all along finally meeting. In 2024, they welcomed their biggest blessing yet — their son, Michael Collin Mendiola.
Suddenly, the young policeman and the young doctor were not just sweethearts. They were Mama and Papa. They learned to love on little sleep, to pray over a tiny crib, to hold each other tighter when days were long. Their son became the living proof that their love was not just a feeling — it was a family.
And still, Michael had one more question to ask.
On October 24, 2025, on Colleen’s birthday at Montebello Hotel, he knelt down and proposed. It was her birthday, but he gave her the gift. And she said yes — to the man who had chosen her since that airport pickup, to the father of her child, to the future she had already been building with him.
In 2026, they married. . .beneath The Crossed Sabers! On October 3, 2026, at 2:00 PM, inside the historic Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Colleen walked down the aisle toward the man who had once been a stranger at the airport.
Michael waited in his dress uniform — Chief of Police of Balilihan MPS, a LAKAN, a leader — but in that moment, just a groom with a trembling heart.
And their wedding featured the PNPA Lakan Wedding Tradition — A Symbol of Eternal Love and Hope: The PNPA Traditional Wedding and Saber Escort.
Distinguished LAKAN graduates are bestowed the rare honor of this tradition. As the newlyweds passed beneath the raised sabers, the crossing of steel signified protection, unity, and solemn vows. It was a reminder that marriage, like service to the nation, is built on trust, dedication, and an enduring promise to stand together through all of life’s challenges.
He had sworn to protect the nation. Now he swore to protect her. She had sworn to heal the sick. Now she swore to heal his home. Under those sabers, two vows became one.
An Evening To Remember
– Church: Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, October 3, 2026, 2:00 PM; – Reception: Radisson Blu Hotel; – Cocktail Hour: 4:00 PM; – Reception Program: 6:00 PM
Surrounded by the people who had witnessed their story from the very first chapter, they celebrated — not as two young people starting out, but as a family already blessed, already tested, already deeply in love.
The People Who Stood With Them:
Parents of the Groom: Wilfredo SD Mendiola & Maria R. Mendiola
Parents of the Bride: Christopher C. Sanchez & Ivy C. Sanchez
Maid of Honor: Caila Ingrid C Sanchez
Best Man: PCPT Alfredo C Liguayan Jr — the same classmate who shared that first house in Cebu, who was there at the beginning, and who stood beside Michael at the end.
Principal Sponsors – Ninongs: PCOL Dyan V Agustin, Hon. Vice Mayor Lorenzo Baliong Jr., PLTCOL Joey M Bicoy, PLTCOL Judy Mar F Bonilla, Hon. Atty. Edgar M. Chatto, PCOL Patricio C Degay Jr., Hon. Mayor Atty. Rajiv Enad, Dr. Niño Michael Inting, Engr. Ramel Lerion, PLTCOL Philip C Quilala
Principal Sponsors – Ninangs: Grace Wiersma, Evelyn R. Baliong, FCINSP Glory Ann Bicoy, Irish Adlaon, Hon. Pureza V Chatto, Dr. Grace A Abugan, Hon. Lheslen A. Enad, Dr. Anna Marie P Sandoval, Dr. Concepcion Lerion, Cheryl Luna O Sereño
Secondary Sponsors:
- Candle: PCPT Kentbell Parcon & PCPT Janice C Parcon
- Veil: PCPT Venstine Ponce Bontilao & Atty. Victoria G Bontilao
- Cord: Dr. Laarni Amistad & Sharuhen Hafeel
Bridesmaids: Dr. Camille Aventurado, Dr. Zysa Ariane Babila, Dr. Cristina Bariquit, Valerie Mae Jequinto, Angel Mendiola, Jan Alexis Mendiola, Dr. Micah Ezra Sainz, Nell Cathleen Sanchez
Groomsmen: PCPT Donicko B Angeles, PCPT Ariel M Aspiras, PCPT Cesar Awingan, PCPT Ricxmar Bon R Buletic, PCPT Bill Rico D Dupagan, PCPT Grant Serafin V Petalio V, PCPT Vherano K Sacpa, PCPT Christopher C Sanchez — the brother whose teasing started it all, now standing as groomsman, witnessing his sister marry his classmate, his friend, his brother.
If you ask Michael when he fell in love, he might not give you a date. He might just smile and say, “At the airport.”
If you ask Colleen, she might say, “When I realized he never left.” That is the kind of love this is. Not the kind that burns fast and fades. The kind that stays. The kind that chooses, every day. The kind that holds a baby at 3 AM, that studies through med school, that serves a town, that kneels on a birthday and asks, will you spend forever with me?
To Chief Michael and Dr. Colleen: May your home always feel like that first hello — unexpected, joyful, and meant to be. May your son grow up knowing he was born from a love story worth telling. And may your marriage be as steady as those sabers, as tender as that proposal, and as beautiful as the day you finally said, I do.
Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Mendiola. Your forever has only just begun.
Chief Mendiola and Dr. Colleen, a Lakan graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy, stand on the altar steps flanked by fellow PNP officers in service uniform.
(L-R) Atty. Trisha V. Chatto, Municipal Mayor of Balilihan, Hon. Pureza V. Chatto, Councilor of Balilihan, Dr. Colleen Iris Mendiola, Chief John Michael Mendiola.
(L-R) Mayor Trisha V. Chatto, Hon. Pureza V. Chatto, Belle Baliong, and Chief Mark Jucel A. Reburiano pose for a photo at the wedding reception.
Hon. Pureza V. Chatto and Mayor Trisha with the mother and sister of the Bride.
(L-R) Vice Mayor Lorenzo Baliong Jr., his wife Belle Baliong, Mayor Trisha V. Chatto and Hon, Pureza V. Chatto shared a table at the reception, set in navy and white beneath crystal chandeliers.
Chief Michael Mendiola and Dr. Colleen Mendiola pose with the officiating priest at the altar of Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral after exchanging vows.
Fellow officers in dress uniform crowd around Chief Mendiola and Dr. Colleen, striking playful poses as the newlyweds form a heart.
Mr. & Mrs. Mendiola together with their Principal Sponsors
The couple together with (L-R) Rachel Calope, Mayor Trisha V. Chatto, Hon. Pureza V. Chatto, Vice Mayor Lorenzo Baliong Jr, and Belle Baliong pose for a photo at the church altar after the wedding ceremony.