Marcelino Contacted De Lima After Manila Raid, According To PNP Lawyer

Senator Leila De Lima and other two ranking police and military officials was called by Marine officer Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Marcelino for trying to wash their hands away from potential drug charge according to Atty. Enrico Rigo, Legal Division Chief of the Police's Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (PNP-AIDG) on Monday.

It's unfair for Marcelino to accuse the police of planting evidence to link him in the PHP.380-million worth of shabu seized in a drug raid in Manila early this year, Rigor said.

“How can you ‘plant’ P380-million worth of drugs?,” Rigor asked the media.

He explained that when the police found Marcelino and his Chinese friend Yan Yi Shou in the house at Felix Huertas Road in Manila, former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) intelligence officer tried to contact several people to prove that he was the authority in that area where he was caught.

Marcelino claimed that he was working undercover to confirm the existence of a drug laboratory when he and Yan were arrested by the police.

Rigor said that Marcelino also contacted former head of Intelligence Service of the military and now the Army chief, Major General Eduardo Año and PDEA Director Randy Pedroso.

“We gave him time to produce the Coplan (Case Operations Plan) which will validate his claim that he was authorized to do undercover work,” Rigor said but cited what Marcelino failed to do so.

Juan Pedro Navera, a Senior Assistant Prosecutor added that until as of now, Marcelino has not made a Coplan to prove his presence in the are in Manila where the PHP.380-million worth of drugs were recovered.

Marcelino and Yan are currently facing a case for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act before the Manila Regional Trial Court.

On Monday’s hearing, the Manila Court ordered the prosecution to comment on the several motions filed by Marcelino through the Public Attorneys Office (PAO).

Navera declared that actions of PAO is not consistent because despite filing of various motions seeking the dismissal of the case against Marcelino and Yan, the public lawyer is still questioning the jurisdiction of the Manila Court to handle the case.

“The fact that they are filing these motions are highly contradictory to their (PAO) claim that the court has no jurisdiction [to handle the case],” Navera said at one of the press conferences.

He added that the resolution of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court is allowing Marcelino to post bail has no bearing to the present case.

“We are not bound by the resolution of the (Quezon City RTC). We argued that even the QCRTC itself self that this is subject to additional evidence na makikita ng DOJ…The QC Court is mindful of its limits,” Navera said.

10 days to comment on the motions filed by Marcelino was the only allotted time given by the Manila Court.

Source: Inquirer